Partners
by LaDy CoUnteRpart of NaTsume
Summary: Friendship that started from coincidence, what if it was fate? Feelings that started from friendship, how do they make it known? Tsubasa x Misaki. Rated T for safety. Reviews are much appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

Author's Note: Hello! This is Lady Counterpart of Natsume and I am back with a new TsubaSaki fic. I promise you this is the last long AN that will greet you once you open this fic, everything else will be after the chapter. There are a few things I must say before you go on reading this fic. 1.) I have planned this to be my last GA fanfic. I decided it was time I moved on to a new fandom though I am not sure where do I move to. It doesn't mean I will never ever write for GA again, just that this is the last official fic I have planned. If ever I suddenly come up with a new plot for GA, then I'll write it and publish it, but there is no definite plan that I **will **come up with a new one. 2.) This plot is a personal challenge for myself. I really don't know how friends would eventually realize their feelings for each other, but I want to try writing that, with personalities that Misaki and Tsubasa have. Aside from romance, I wanted to write more about friendship, which is why you should expect that there will be a lot of cliche plot elements in here. I want to challenge myself to write those elements without making them cliche. I don't know if I succeeded in this fic, but maybe you the reader can help me improve on that. 3.) This story has lots of details that are related to me in real life. It may be a personality of a character, a situation, a detail, but that's how I always write anyway. I get lots of things from personal experience, give it more details until it turns into something else entirely. I don't know if my friends who know me in real life will know that I published this, but if they did, hi guys, yeah, you might recognize some stuff in here, thanks for the inspiration :) 4.) I am no Architecture major. I only know that they draw plans for houses. But I'm doing my best to research some stuff before I include them. And this story I patterned to what I heard about the College of Architecture in my university. Well, there you have it, I hope you like this story :)

* * *

_Prologue_

"Okay, has everybody submitted their final outputs?" a pink-haired woman in her mid-thirties stood on stage inside a large lecture hall. She was wearing a black office blazer on top of a semi-formal a-line dress and nude-toned high heels.

She scanned her audience, about 80 sophomore Architecture majors. No one was raising his hand. She looked at the student assistant who was beside the teacher's table in the middle of the stage. He was counting a stack of tracing papers containing the architectural drawings of each student as their final requirement in her class. She nodded at him and he gathered the stack and took it to her office.

She turned off the projector through the remote in her hand. She also shut down her laptop and then went in front of the table, and, to the surprise of the students, she sat on the table casually.

She is Misaki, a licensed architect but stopped doing professional work after her first child turned 3 years old. She then went back to her alma mater, this university itself, and decided to teach under the department of her own course. She teaches only two classes though, Architecture 101 in the first semester and this, Architecture 102, in the second semester.

To her students, she was a nice yet formal professor. So it was a surprise to them when she sat down casually in front of the desk, wearing a dress and all.

"We have 45 minutes left. You must be wondering, why my lecture for today was short, yet I haven't dismissed you, I already collected your final outputs and all," it was the last day for the second semester, also the last day for the school year. "This is the second part of today's lecture, but it won't be about Architecture 102 anymore, or Architecture as a subject for that matter. What I want to talk about with you guys right now, is Architecture as a course."

Her students looked at her confused. She knew what was going on in their minds, what was the difference.

"Well, most of you guys probably know about this, but this university is also where I graduated from. I'll be telling you guys a story so you can just chill and I do hope you listen to this. Don't worry, I'll dismiss you early since I know you'd all like to have a break already, so do I," she laughed. "Well, here it goes. You see, around a 'few' years ago, I was also seated on your place. This room had also been my classroom for both Architecture 101 and 102. I do know that some of you had been my student last semester in 101, by the way. So yeah, this room holds precious memories and that is the reason why I always choose this room for my class. And it's near the comfort rooms, convenient isn't it?"

The class laughed.

* * *

_Chapter 1_

Young Misaki looked up from the piece of paper she was holding. "Lecture Hall 201, yep this is it," she said to herself as she read the name written on the bronze plate at the right side of the double doors. She went inside and saw that a few people were there already. Probably just early like her or their first class ended early.

She wasn't sure about the exact number but she could guess that the class would be a large one given the classroom size. Not surprising since there must be more than two hundred students in each year level in the College of Architecture. After all, this university is known for graduating the best architects in the country. The door led exactly to the middle aisle, parting seven rows to two, all the way to the foot of the stage upfront. The tiered seats were a bit bowed, with each row having a long wooden tabletop and multiple chairs behind it. Since there were only a few people, she was able to choose carefully where she wanted to sit. She chose to sit one seat away from the aisle, on the fourth left row.

She placed her bag on her side and took out her pen and notebook. She was excited. It was her first Architecture class. All freshmen took general subjects and only in second year do they start taking their majors.

Ten minutes later, students started coming in. Some of them took their seats in groups. 'Looks like some of them know each other already, huh,' she thought. Some of them were also introducing themselves to each other. She also heard some of them recognize each other as classmates in a gen ed subject from last year, not realizing they have the same course. She sighed. Surprisingly, despite there being two semesters and the College of Architecture being one of the largest colleges in campus, she didn't have architecture majors as classmates in her gen ed subjects. Or if she did, she probably didn't get the chance to talk to them for she didn't really socialize last year. She did, but she wasn't someone who was loud enough to suddenly approach random people and say, 'Hi, I'm Misaki, what's your course? Want to be friends?'

"Hey, it's you, from Biology class! Is this seat taken? Can I sit here?" she looked up to her left and saw a tall guy with dark blue hair smiling at her. He was pointing at the chair beside her, the one next to the aisle. She nodded. She recognized him as the guy who sat across the row from her in Biology class. He was always late. "Didn't know you're also an architecture major. I'm Tsubasa, by the way. Andou Tsubasa."

* * *

"It was his idea to get this schedule," Tsubasa scratched his head while looking at his schedule. "Damn, that Kaname, going for an almost night schedule just for a girl. Ahh, I'm going to be late!"

He started running while fixing the buttons of his shirt. He woke up late because he forgot to set his own alarm clock. He was expecting his roommate, Kaname, was going to wake him up but forgot that his classes don't start 'til afternoon. They are both architecture majors who met each other in the dorm. Most architecture majors choose the East Boys Dorm since it's the nearest to the architecture building. And they were also going to take this schedule since it was the best among the three available set of schedules but Kaname decided to change and choose the night schedule because he found out the girl he had a crush on last term got that.

He found the lecture hall just a few minutes before 10 am, the start of the class. He went inside and since he was one of the latest to arrive, free seats were scattered. He'll have to sit beside someone. He scanned the room to see if he knew anyone, a dormmate or a friend from last year. There was no one. He ran his gaze back until it stopped on the back of a familiar pink haired head.

'It's her, from Biology class, across me,' he thought. They were both seated beside the aisle, and he remembered her always looking at him whenever he came late, as if she was suddenly disturbed while being absorbed in listening to the lecture. Since that class consisted only of lectures, they didn't really had the chance to get to know their classmates, and that was in the first semester, so he didn't really think much about her.

The seat beside her was empty so he decided to approach her.

"Hey, it's you, from Biology class! Is this seat taken? Can I sit here?" it was her, indeed. He must have gotten her surprised since she looked up to him with a jolt. He saw recognition in her eyes and then she nodded. He pulled the chair and sat down, placing his bag underneath the desk. "Didn't know you're also an architecture major. I'm Tsubasa, by the way. Andou Tsubasa."

"I'm Misaki, Harada Misaki," she took his hand. He smiled again.

"Oh yeah, I remember, you have the same name as our professor," he remembered. "Sensei always said it felt weird saying your name during roll call."

She laughed with him. Just then, the professor's door at the side of the stage opened and as the professor came in, the class fell silent. The professor had shoulder length blond hair. Half-French, maybe. He was wearing a trenchcoat that reached his knees. He looked handsome, but he looked a bit feminine.

He tried to stifle a laugh and looked at Misaki. Wrong move. She was trying to do the same and they both had to look away to avoid laughing. They were thinking the same thing.

"Okay, why's it warm in here and cold outside?" the professor said. He took off his trenchcoat and hung it on the teacher's chair.

Last straw. Misaki turned her face sideways and hid her face with her handkerchief before laughing silently while he placed his head face flat on the desk. The professor was wearing a white long sleeved top that had frills on the bottom hemline. When they both recovered, he mouthed to her, "Confirmed."

"Good morning, class. It's a bit chilly outside, huh," he greeted merrily. "So let me introduce myself. I am Narumi L. Anju, I prefer the Western order because I love my mom, and yes, I am half-French. As you know, I am teaching your first architecture class, Architecture 101, which is also called Basic Architecture. I prefer to call it the Foundations. Foundations as in the base of a house and as in the base of make up."

Everyone laughed.

"I am not someone who likes taking attendance, especially since there's a lot of you, but class, this is a very important subject for all of you, and I suggest you try not to be absent in this class," he went behind the table and opened his laptop. He connected it to the projector cable and clicked on a remote. The projector screen came down and flashed a presentation. "Okay, let's go to the boring stuff."

Narumi discussed the house rules, the syllabus, the materials they are required to bring and whatnots. "So yeah, as I was saying, this is foundations. I will be teaching you what you need to know before you actually start drawing house plans, how to use those materials I asked you to bring, how to draw the proper lines, et cetera. Background, history, and those boring theoretical stuff, I'll leave it to that old man, Kazu, which you probably have either later or tomorrow," Misaki checked her schedule, that must be Architecture 121, another architecture major they were taking this semester. "Okay, as I know this is your first architecture class, and most of you probably saw each other only now, self-introductions are supposed to be done in this class. Very important since you'll be working together from here on until you graduate. But I don't really want to make you stand up one by one and say boring stuff like I am blah blah."

He took a long dramatic pause and scanned the students. "Which is why we'll do this architecture style!" He twirled while clicking the remote. 'I told you,' he mouthed to Misaki again. The screen showed a cartoon house. "What I want you guys to do right now is to think of your dream house. Describe it in words. Doesn't have to be concrete, just what you want it to have. Like if you want a large garden or a recreation room or pink walls, but try to be as detailed as possible. Get a sheet of paper and start working! When you're done, you can pass it to me and you may go. We'll discuss what you wrote here next meeting. And no peeking at your classmate's paper."

Everyone took out a sheet of paper while Narumi turned off his laptop and started keeping his things. After a few minutes, some people started standing up and passing their paper to Narumi. He also stood up and tapped her.

* * *

She was absorbed in writing down her dream house when she felt Tsubasa tap her and motion that he's going ahead. She just nodded but she thought, 'that was quick'.

Misaki was a girl who took most things seriously. Once she gets herself to do something, she gives her all. When she decided that she was satisfied with her work and has written everything she wanted to, she was among the last one-fourth of the class who submitted their work. She passed her paper to Narumi and then went outside.

"Took you a while," Tsubasa was leaning on the wall beside the doors. He removed the earphones from his ears and they started walking.

"You waited for me?" she was surprised. She definitely didn't ask him to wait for her nor did he say he would.

"We're blocked, right? So we must have the same schedule," he said. She nodded. "We only got 30 minutes for lunch, want to eat together at the cafeteria? It's sad to eat alone, you know."

It was true that she'll be eating alone since she really didn't know anyone else in the building. She agreed and so they went to the cafeteria, which was bustling with architecture majors from all year levels.

"Woah, is that tonkatsu I smell?" Tsubasa exclaimed as they went in. They fell in line to see the choices. "What are you gonna eat?"

"Hmnn, I think I'll have fish fillet," she said as she leaned over to check what was available.

Even though it was lunch time for most students, the two were still able to get a table immediately, and it was on the side of the cafeteria, full length glass windows beside them giving a clear view of the lawn area of the building.

"It was a good decision to eat here rather than go back to the dorm," Tsubasa said as he split his chopsticks. "Itadakimasu!"

"You live in a dorm?" she asked as they started eating.

"Yeah, the one near here, East Boys Dorm," he answered. "I'm from Shimoda in Shizuoka, can't really commute from there. What about you? Do you live here in the city?"

"I'm from Shizuoka too," her eyes lit up. "I'm from Hamamatsu, though. I live in an apartment, it's near here. Do you go back every weekend too?"

"Yeah, I don't really like the food at the dorms," he laughed. "I want dessert. There's sundae, you want me to get you one?"

She nodded. It was easy to be comfortable around Tsubasa. She found herself laughing at every story he told her, especially those about the boys dorm. It was only a short time but they already talked about a lot.

Since they were in a block, they had the same classes except for PE. They had different PE classes but at the same time slot. Hence, they were together for the whole day.

"See you tomorrow," he said to her when they got out of the Physics building, where their last subject for the day was.

"Hey, class starts at 10 tomorrow, too, set up your alarm clock, sleepyhead," she joked.

"We're with Kaname, the roommate I told you about, for 121 tomorrow, I'll get there in time," he laughed. He waved as he jogged to the other way, going back to his dorm, while she started walking towards the university entrance.

True enough, Tsubasa came to class the following day around 15 minutes before the time, together with a blond guy. Tsubasa saw her and immediately went to her.

"Misaki, this is my roommate, Sono Kaname," Tsubasa introduced the guy. Had Tsubasa not told her how the guy decided to take the other schedule due to crushing on a girl who passed by them during enrolment, she would have developed a crush on him immediately. Kaname was handsome, prince-like, actually. "Kaname, this is Harada Misaki, she saved me when you left me."

Kaname laid out his hand which she accepted. For a moment, she thought he would kiss her hand. Even the way he shook their hands was regal, as if he was politician who always did this during parties. "Glad to meet you, Misaki-san."

"I already told her about you so don't even try," Tsubasa tapped Kaname's outstretched arm and took the seat beside her. Kaname took the seat beside Tsubasa.

They chatted happily until the professor came. Because of Narumi's words yesterday, she and Tsubasa expected their professor to be old, having white hair, and possibly wear a bit old-fashioned clothes. But the man who came inside was tall, had light blond hair, and, though not a fashionista, wore clothes that weren't old-fashioned. He was handsome and actually looked like a rich man, and he looked like he was about Narumi's age. He also had a stern look on his face.

"This will surely be a boring subject," Kaname said as Kazu introduced himself. He started the lesson immediately, and even for diligent Misaki, most students found themselves yawning but were afraid to show it because of Kazu's tantalizing but scary eyes.

She took down notes to keep herself awake while Tsubasa just toyed with the edges of her notebook. "Aren't you taking down notes?" she asked him.

"I'll just copy them from you or something, I'd just be writing down random stuff he's saying if I try," he said, still playing with the edge of the sheet she was writing on. "Besides, I've got a feeling everything he's saying is in that reference book."

"Hey, let's go buy the books later," Kaname said. There was a bookstore in town that was selling most college reference books.

"We're only 'til 3, dude, you want us to wait for you for an hour and a half?" Kaname made face as he remembered that unlike him, they only had two classes today while he had three. She laughed but Kazu was starting to notice them so she immediately turned serious and nudged at Tsubasa to look in front.

After a while, Kazu directed his attention at other students, she took this chance to whisper to the boys, "I live near 11th street, why don't we just meet up at the bookstore after Kaname-kun's class? Tsubasa can go back to the dorms and rest, I'll go home too. We haven't got any homeworks, anyway."

The two boys agreed. The class ended and they had lunch together at the cafeteria. Kaname had Physics next and left early because Physics was on the other side of the campus. The two stayed at the cafeteria until their next class. On their way to their next class, they passed by upperclassmen setting up booths in the activity area. A fair for the student clubs will be set up by tomorrow.

They went their separate ways after class. She went home to rest for a while and took a quick shower before meeting up with the two along 11th Street, a street lined with cafés and other shops, a usual place for college students' hang out. They bought the textbooks they will be using for this semester then went to hang out in one of the cafés.

The following day had the same schedule as the first day. First class was 101 with Narumi. Tsubasa, as expected, got in time just before Narumi came. He was just getting to his seat when Narumi spoke.

"Class, I read through all your papers from last meeting, and I might say, I already have a peek of who you all are," Narumi then waved two pieces of paper. "But out of everything, there were 2 pieces of paper that were really interesting. Andou Tsubasa. Harada Misaki. Please stand."

Tsubasa had just pulled his chair. They looked at each other wide-eyed and back to Narumi.

* * *

Just some author's notes: Shimoda and Hamamatsu are both cities from the Shizuoka prefecture in Japan. Not really important to the story but it matters to me haha. I wanted Tsubasa to be a countryside guy but near the beach, but I wanted them to live in provinces near each other. But then, I still can't understand Japan's prefecture system so I had to settle with having them in the same prefecture but in distanced cities. Shimoda is a famous beach spot but I think it's a bit too industrialized for the image I had for Tsubasa's province, but I had to settle. And also, I don't know how college works in other countries. I simply patterned it to how it is in my university, hence the 5-6 subjects + PE load. If you have read my other works, you would notice I'm too picky with details, please bear with me, I really can't focus on writing if even the slightest detail conflicts.


	2. Chapter 2

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

"Andou Tsubasa. Harada Misaki. Please stand."

With wide eyes, she stood up slowly while Tsubasa put down his bag and looked at Narumi, too. Narumi's right eyebrow rose when he looked at them.

"Oh, so you're seated next to each other," Narumi said. She was getting nervous. "Are you two dating?"

They both shook their head in defense. "We just met each other the other day, sensei," she answered.

"Oh, is that so," Narumi said, rubbing his chin a little. "Then, Harada-san, please answer my questions about what you wrote here, and simply answer what I ask you. How many bedrooms did you want for your dream house?"

"4, sir," she answered.

"Andou-kun, why four?" Narumi then turned to Tsubasa, as if she was asked about what **he** wrote, not what she wrote. She looked at him in confusion.

"Well, I wanted three kids, and they should get their own rooms but I was hoping I'd get two boys who'll just share one room and one girl, the spare room can be a guest room," Tsubasa said, scratching his head. Misaki's eyes almost popped out.

"Style and house type?" Narumi turned to her again.

"Mix of classic and contemporary styles," she answered. "Single-detached two-story medium-sized house."

Narumi faced Tsubasa with a face that said, 'explain, mister.' "Suburban but still homey. It's a bit of a luxury house but still perfect for a family, you know, comfortable. Single-detached house for a bit of privacy for my family and a lawn to run around in. All rooms are upstairs. It's a bit bigger than the typical house, like a small compact villa."

"Other rooms like rec room, family room." "Family room would be the living room, no recreation room, but there's a separate reading room."

"The living room will be the visitor area, the family area and also the recreation room. It's to keep the family together. They can watch TV together, play video games and such there. And then there would be a mini library with a fireplace and a reading nook by a bay window. It's also like a family area but for peace and quiet times," Tsubasa was now a bit relaxed.

This went on, with Narumi asking her about things that she wrote in her paper and then asking Tsubasa to explain as if they were the same person.

"Okay, Harada-san, what can you say? You two didn't talk about the activity, did you?"

She shook her head. "Uhm, why is he explaining everything I wrote?" Tsubasa looked at her, surprised.

"Class, these two wrote the same thing," Narumi announced. Everyone looked at the two. "And I am positive they didn't copy from each other. Andou-kun didn't explain the details he wrote. What I asked Harada-san, were the things Andou-kun wrote. Harada-san, on the other hand, wrote everything in detail, with explanations as to why things are this and that. They didn't talk about this, and Andou-kun explained the choices according to his own reasons, which are also almost the same reasons Harada-san wrote here. Hey, you two, get married."

The lecture hall roared with laughter and much teasing. She blushed and Tsubasa scratched his head again.

"You may sit down. So, for self-introductions, I guess you can see that Andou-kun's personality is laid-back, shown in his no-details paper and way of explaining. Harada-san, meanwhile, seems like she'll be a diligent student, and a careful planner, making sure of every detail," Narumi said when the class recovered. "What I noticed is that most of you were thinking of houses that suited your individual lifestyles. And then there are people like these two that are family-oriented. I prefer the family-oriented thinking for this course, actually. After all, it is inevitable that most of you would have a family of your own. If your house has the latest high-end gear, has a bedroom occupying the whole upper floor, the perfect bachelor's pad, then where are you going to place your kids?"

Narumi then started calling the other students to give a brief description of what they wrote in their papers. It took up most of the class time.

"Okay, that's about everyone. So we all have an idea of who each person here is through their descriptions. But this activity has one other importance," Narumi said as he tapped the stack of papers on his free hand. "This will also be your final output in this class. Right now these dream houses of yours are just words, and we only get a vague idea of how it would look like. Some of you have most of the details down, but that can still change. As we go on our lessons, you will also start drawing the plan for your dream house. Well, actually, more of a sketch, none of the complicated materials, lighting, wiring considerations. If you guys are lucky enough, I'd be your professor on that also, later on."

Narumi looked at his watch. "That's what I don't like about self-introductions. It takes up the entire first week, but I do love to get to know all of my students. Anyway, read up on the first part of the book. Yes, the entire first part," she opened her book and saw that there are five chapters for the first part. "You don't have to read it word per word, but the entire part can't be discussed in parts, it has to be in whole, it's all about the basics. Oh, and is that grumpy, Jinjin, still the math teacher for architecture majors? He's a bit traditional, but do listen to his class, it's important to this course. Well that's it for today, don't forget to read up and bring those pencils and drawing notebook. Actually, always bring those pencils and drawing notebooks. You may go."

She and Tsubasa both let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, and Harada-san, Andou-kun, I'm giving you the chance to work as a pair for the final output, who knows, there might be another outcome," Narumi joked. Everybody laughed again. Her face turned red.

"But you two really aren't going out?" a pink-haired girl who was seated on her other side asked them. She shook her head. "I'm Anna, by the way. She's Nonoko."

The dark-haired girl with glasses beside her waved at them. "Are you eating lunch at the cafeteria? Want to eat together?"

"Sure," Tsubasa said to them with a smile. He then looked at her and nodded his head, gesturing them to go. She followed him and walked beside him while the two girls followed behind.

They stayed together even in the next class. After that, Nonoko and Anna, both dormers in the North Girls' Dorm, left immediately to go back to their dorms for a while before Physics, which was near their dorm. She and Tsubasa decided to check out the fair at the activity center before going.

There were various clubs, most of them limited to Architecture majors, while some are open to other majors. Upperclassmen were cheerfully asking passers-by to join their clubs.

"Are you a member of any club in the university?" she asked Tsubasa. "You and Kaname-kun were talking about soccer yesterday, are you in the varsity?"

"Nah, don't like to commit to those, soccer is just for fun. Kaname and I usually play with some of our dormmates," Tsubasa said as they looked at the stands showing a map of the fair. "But I plan to join an architecture-based one this semester. Good way to get connections."

"Me too," she smiled. A particular club name then caught her eye. "Look, Tsubasa, this one looks interesting, let's check out its booth."

She lifted her head from the stands and scanned the fair. She then pulled Tsubasa to its location.

"Hello, join the Special Club for Architects, SCA for short! Where architecture meets entrepreneurship!" a short brunette with glasses, possibly a 3rd year, cheerfully welcomed them when they approached. She also gave them fliers. "We're having an orientation tomorrow afternoon, please come if you want to know more about us."

She scanned the flier. The club was a social entrepreneurship organization applying architecture in its projects. "This seems interesting, Tsubasa."

"Yeah, I think I heard about them from some of the upperclassmen in the dorm, said it's a good organization for both training and experience," Tsubasa was studying the flier. "Want to attend the orientation tomorrow? It's at 5 so we can probably get Kaname to go with us. Let's also look at the other booths."

They took a flier from all the booths before heading out to the Physics building. They met Anna and Nonoko at their room and showed them the fliers.

"We're members of a club already, but it's not architecture-based, we both love cooking so we joined a cuisine club, it's university-based rather than college-based," Nonoko told them.

"Architecture is a busy course, we don't really want to add more to our load," Anna said. It is true that their course is a pretty busy one. Handling two clubs in addition to that is suicide, or close to it.

The professor then arrived and they all placed their attention in front.

* * *

Kaname was standing in front of them talking animatedly when he suddenly stopped, his gaze locked at the door at the back end of room. Tsubasa and Misaki turned to look at the reason loudmouth Kaname would suddenly stop talking. Coming in the room was a fair-skinned petite girl, her icy-blue hair held up by a ribbon, with some of the wavy locks falling near her temple. She was beautiful, and she also seemed gentle. Misaki had no doubt she was a daughter of a rich businessman.

"That's the girl," Tsubasa whispered to her. "She was absent last time."

She nodded. "No wonder Kaname-kun liked her." Nonoko and Anna then arrived from the other door. They were still looking at the blue-haired girl.

"Misaki-chan, here's yours," Nonoko gave her the juice can.

"What's with Kaname-kun?" Anna asked them, moving Kaname aside to see them. Anna and Nonoko were seated in front of them. They were just about to tell them about the girl when said girl approached them. The seat beside Anna, which was in front of where Kaname was seated, was vacant.

"Hi, is someone already seated here?" the girl spoke gently. Kaname was still frozen. Anna smiled brightly.

"Nope, you may sit here," Anna replied then laid out her hand. "I'm Anna, by the way. This is Nonoko, Misaki, Tsubasa, and Kaname."

"I'm Ibaragi Nobara, nice to meet you all," the girl shyly took Anna's hand while she bowed to them.

"Oi, Kaname, sit down, she can't see us," Tsubasa pulled Kaname and forced him to sit down. He then looked at Nobara. "Sorry, he's usually the loudest here."

Nobara smiled at them. "I was absent last meeting, was there anything important the professor said?"

"He went into lecture immediately," she answered.

"Oh, is that so? I probably missed a lot," Nobara's expression turned worried.

"Do you have the book already? It's all in there anyway, but you may copy my notes if you want," she smiled.

"I haven't bought any of the books we need. Since I got sick last Tuesday, I didn't know the books I need for some of the subjects," Nobara said. "Are you in the 3rd block too?"

"Misaki-chan, Tsubasa-kun, Nonoko-chan, and me are in the 2nd block, but Kaname-kun here is in the 3rd block, same as you," Anna answered her.

"Oi, Kaname, we don't have the same professor for some of the subjects, did you take down notes in your classes?" Kaname nervously shook his head.

"But we're using the same books," he then said. "I'll give you the list of the books we need. And notes on each professor, which class you can sleep in and be late."

"Only you and Tsubasa need that, Kaname-kun," Misaki almost whacked him. "What she probably needs is someone to go with her in buying the books. Do you know that book shop in 11th street, Nobara-san?"

"Yeah, but I haven't been there myself, Rei-san, my father's assistant, usually buys my books for me," Nobara shyly said. "I want to go there myself, though."

"I—We can go with you, if you'd like," Kaname quickly said. Tsubasa just nodded.

"By the way, we were talking about attending SCA's orientation later, it's at 5, do you want to come too? It's an architecture organization. It seems interesting," she said.

"Oh, that's the one I wanted to join too," Nobara said. "Until what time is it?"

"It says here 6," she said, looking at the flier she just took out from her bag.

"Then, would you like to go with me to the bookstore afterwards? Maybe we can have dinner after. It might be a bit late already, though," they all grinned at that.

"Nobara-san, it's college. 7 is still early for a night out with friends," she grinned. Nobara was obviously sheltered. "Let me guess, you have a chauffeur, don't you?"

Nobara nodded. "You live here in the city, don't you? All of us are from different prefectures so we're all staying in the dorms, except for Misaki here who has her own apartment, it's near 11th street, actually." Tsubasa said with a friendly smile.

"Is that so? Then I'll drop you guys off after, it's the least I can do if you're all going with me to buy my books," Nobara lightened up. Kazu then arrived and class started.

They ate lunch together then split up for their respective classes. Tsubasa, Kaname, Nobara and she grouped together for the orientation at 5, Nonoko and Anna will meet up with them after.

"Hello! Welcome to Special Club for Architects' orientation! I am Tanaka Chiaki, head of the recruitment team, and I will also be the emcee for tonight's orientation," it was the petite brunette with glasses. "So first, we have a welcome speech from SCA's Vice President for Corporate Projects, Tonouchi Akira. He'll also be discussing what SCA is."

A tall guy with long black hair who was standing at the side earlier came in front and took the mic. "Hello, ladies and other hopeful architects, I'm Tonouchi Akira, but I'm usually called Tono."

"Flirt," she and Tsubasa said at the same time. Nobara just laughed. Tono proceeded to discuss what SCA is and its projects. He was followed by the head of the recruitment team who discussed the application process of the organization which would take the entire semester.

After the orientation, they already decided that they would all apply for SCA. They all took an app kit from the table before heading out of the room.

"Oh, it's Andou-kun and Harada-san, you guys wrote the exact same details for the dream house," while they were signing up, a lean guy with glasses beside them recognized them. "I'm Megane, I'm in the 2nd block too."

"Is that our identity now?" he laughed. "Yeah, that's us, you can call me Tsubasa."

"Hi, I'm Misaki," she smiled. "This is Kaname and Nobara, they're from the 3rd block."

The two waved at Megane. Anna and Nonoko were already outside the building, waiting for them. "Well, see you guys in class tomorrow," Megane went off, he stays at the north boys' dorm.

"Hey, Anna-san, Nonoko-san, these two got recognized by a classmate for that dream house activity," Kaname told the two. "I have a feeling these two will be getting a huge fanbase in our batch. But man, how can you two write the exact same thing? Are you sure you didn't talk about that or do you really know each other from before? You're both from Shizuoka, right? You're actually childhood sweethearts, aren't you?"

"We've been roommates since last year, I think you'll know if I have a girlfriend," Tsubasa whacked Kaname.

"Wait, you two are not boyfriend and girlfriend?" Nobara's eyes widened.

"No!" she shook her head furiously. "We only talked to each other this semester. What? You really thought we're dating?"

"I really thought you two are dating, plus Kaname-kun was so sure you two planned the dream house together," Tsubasa whacked Kaname again, this time harder.

"What, you can't talk about anything so you talked about the two of us, huh," he then gave Kaname a noogie.

Anna and Nonoko just giggled. Nobara's car was already waiting for them at the gates. They went to the bookstore and ate dinner at a pizza place in the same street.

"So you're all applying for SCA?" Anna asked. They nodded. "When does the application start?"

"Next week. We have to submit the application form tomorrow but they said they'll be accepting applicants until next week. There will be tasks, we'll be asked to submit plates, plans, I think even project proposals. We'll also be required to attend some events of the org," she said. She then faced Tsubasa, as he was removing the onions in her pizza and putting it on his. "By the way, let's submit ours tomorrow."

He nodded as he took the last piece of onion strip. She then picked up her slice and ate it. The four looked at them, confused.

"She doesn't like onions," he told them before stuffing the pizza in his mouth. "We were eating burger yesterday, she removed the onions."

"I thought it just came naturally like the dream house," Kaname teased them.

"Get over the dream house, Kaname," he retorted back then faced her. "Remind me about the form tomorrow, I might forget it."

She nodded. Kaname then clapped. "There's an acquaintance party tomorrow for the college, are you guys going? Let's all go and meet the people from other year levels."

"I'm going home tomorrow, we're only 'til 3 tomorrow, I'll be home early if I leave right after class," she said.

"Come on, Misaki-chan, we're also attending, let's just all go home on Saturday morning," Nonoko said. She looked at Tsubasa.

"He pestered me last night," he pointed at Kaname. "I also wanted to go home right after class, but I guess I'll be going on Saturday morning."

"I'm also going, Misaki-san, I think it'll be fun," Nobara said with a smile. She looked at them and sighed.

"Fine, I'll go too," she gave up. They all laughed. Afterwards, as Nobara promised, she dropped them off, first Misaki in her apartment building, and then the four at the university.

* * *

"Oh, you're early today," Misaki had just arrived at the building, walking to her first class, when she saw Tsubasa who had just arrived also.

"We got up early to jog, Kaname set his alarm clock but I was the only one who woke up to it," Tsubasa said as he caught up to her. They started walking to their classroom.

Just then, a blue spiky-haired boy who seemed too sleepy he was dragging himself, passed by in front of them. "Oh? Hayate, what are you doing?"

The boy opened his eyes, and looked at them. "Tsubasa, 'morning. I'm going to my next class. Ahh, I'm sleepy and I'm hungry. What was breakfast in the dorm?"

"Omelet, what else?" Tsubasa answered. "Just grab something from the cafeteria before going to your next class."

"Oh, you're right, I should do that, thanks, dude," Hayate then walked passed them, still dragging himself.

"Sorry, forgot to introduce you. That's Hayate, he's my classmate since grade school and he's got a crush on my younger sister's best friend. A total sleepyhead, I don't know why he took the first block," Tsubasa said and scratched his head.

They went on to their classroom. Anna and Nonoko weren't there yet but they saw Megane who waved at them when they entered the room.

"Did you guys submit the application form already?" he asked them.

"Ah, I told you to remind me, we should have submitted it when we passed by the fair earlier," she tapped her forehead.

"I forgot to fill out the form, I told you to remind me about it last night," Tsubasa quickly rummaged inside his bag for the form. "Hey, what did you write in this part? Can I see yours?"

She gave him her form. "Oi, are you really a girl, Misaki? I have a nicer penmanship than you." WHACK!

And it started.

* * *

Wow, can't believe I'm releasing my second chapter now. Hi dear reader, I'm really glad you reached this part of the story. As I publish this, I finished writing a future chapter and will continue to the following chapter until I publish the third chapter and it'll go on until I finished the whole fic. So this means I'll update weekly, whatever happens. I hope you liked this chapter, this was actually what started this story. Please do leave a review though, especially about my writing and the plot, because I really want to improve through this fic. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

"Okay, for our first activity, I want all of you to find a partner and sit together," after discussing the usual rules and course syllabus, Fukutan, their Architecture 111 professor announced and clapped his hands. The classroom buzzed as people asked others to be their partner.

Anna and Nonoko naturally paired up. Tsubasa just pulled his chair and table next to Misaki. Megane paired up with his seatmate who also didn't have a partner.

"Does everyone have a partner now? Here's what you're gonna do, together with your partner, color that house using the crayons I brought," Fukutan said as he gave a sheet of paper to each pair. On the sheet of paper was a drawing of a house front. "Let's see which pair will come up with the best color combination. You may begin."

Tsubasa and Misaki stared intently at the drawing for a while.

"It's a cabin-style bungalow, typical house. We should stick to simple colors," Tsubasa said after studying the drawing. She nodded.

"Probably only one color in different shades or just two colors," she said. "Which do you prefer?"

"Two colors, for the roof and the walls," Tsubasa answered.

"We should use white for the walls and a plain color for the roof," she said. "It's the best for this kind of house."

"Other colors look good for this too," Tsubasa argued. "Light yellow or cream or mint for the walls and then clay for the roof would look nice."

"But if you look at most bungalow-types, there's always white, plus I think this house is suited for a tropical area. The paint should have a bright or sunny feel to it too," she argued back.

"Isn't yellow sunny?"

"Are you going to color the window sills yellow too?" she raised an eyebrow.

Tsubasa let out a sigh. "Okay, then let's do this, we'll use white as the lining, clay for the roof, then yellow for the walls. Yellow is a homey color, it'll provide the balance between vacation house and home."

"What about we use white for the roof too? It'll look welcoming that way," she said.

"Let's leave it for now and see if it's better that way then color it if it doesn't," Tsubasa said and then took the colors they will need.

Tsubasa did the main part of the house. She was impressed. He made coloring using crayons seem like an art rather than an elementary activity. They decided to leave the roof white, together with the linings.

"It looks nice," Tsubasa smiled. "Homey and lively."

She agreed. They passed the paper then went out to eat lunch together with Anna, Nonoko and Megane.

"You guys, you were arguing during the activity, it was pretty loud, you know," Megane told them while they were eating.

"But it was pretty cute, actually," Anna and Nonoko giggled.

"By the way, are you done filling up the application form? Let's submit it after eating," she then stood up to get water. There were a few people at the water station so it took her a while to get back to their table. She brought two glasses of water, one for her and another for Tsubasa, but he wasn't there.

She was just going to ask when he came and placed a sundae cup in front of her then took his seat beside her.

"What time are you going home tomorrow?" Tsubasa asked her before drinking the water she brought for him.

"Maybe 8 or 9," she replied as she opened the sundae cup.

"Too early, let's go at 10," Tsubasa complained.

"Too late, what are you going home for if you're going to go late anyway? The earlier we get there, the more time we have at home. Besides, the train might get too crowded if we go late," she took a spoonful of sundae. "We're going at 9, that's it."

"They're arguing again," Megane shook his head. "I don't know if you two match well or not at all."

"And just so you know, not going together is also an option," Nonoko said as she and Anna giggled. They looked at each other as if realizing that just now. Tsubasa shrugged his shoulders.

"9 it is. Remind me to tell Kaname we're going at 9," Tsubasa said to her. She took his phone and set his alarm.

"Just in case Kaname-kun won't wake up early," she said. They then stood up to go to their next class.

They passed by the fair to submit their application form. Just as they were going to their classroom, they met Hayate, who was the same as that morning, sleepy and dragging himself.

"Hayate, your class is over?"

"Oh, Tsubasa, it's you. Yeah, I'm going to sleep now," he rubbed his eyes.

"You're not going home? Or are you attending the party later?" Tsubasa then looked at them. "They're my blockmates, by the way. Misaki, Megane, Anna and Nonoko. Guys, this is Hayate, we're classmates since grade school."

Hayate nodded at them. "What party? Anyway, I'm still sleepy, I'm going to sleep for now." And Hayate went on to drag himself to the dorm again.

"I still don't get why he chose the morning schedule," Tsubasa scratched his head as they went on. "Actually, I don't get why he's always so sleepy. I know he plays a lot of video games, but he seems like he spends all of his free time sleeping anyway."

* * *

The party that night was held in a function hall near the university. Tsubasa and Kaname fetched Misaki from her apartment first and then went to the party together.

The room was filled with architecture students from all levels. Not all students attended but they were still able to fully occupy the large hall. The center of the room was made a dance floor while the tables were scattered all around it. There were already some students dancing while most were going around the tables.

They saw Megane, Anna and Nonoko waving at them from a table near the side of the room.

"I think at least half of each batch is here," Megane had to shout for them to hear what he was saying. Misaki took a seat beside Anna while he sat beside Misaki.

"Nobara-chan is not yet here," Anna leaned to Misaki for them to hear. Kaname had just pulled a chair for himself when he saw something from the other side of the room.

"Hey, Tsubasa, some of the upperclassmen from our dorm are there, let's say hi," Kaname tapped his shoulder. He looked up and saw a group of guys laughing and talking to each other on the other side of the room. It would be rude not to greet them, they did guide them when they found out they were architecture majors too.

"There are some of our dormmates who are also our senpais, we'll just greet them, I'll be back," he placed his hand on Misaki's shoulder. She nodded. He got up and went with Kaname to the senpais' place.

"Oh, it's Andou and Sono," three of them were their dormmates in the East Boys' Dorm. They are all seniors. "Hey guys, they're sophomores, they live in the East Boys' Dorm too. They're our batchmates. Is that Matsudaira the sleepyhead? Oi, Matsudaira, over here!"

Hayate looked as sleepy as ever. His clothes was also unkempt, as if he realized there was a party and rushed to take a bath and changed his clothes to get here. Some of the buttons of his plaid button down shirt was unbuttoned and his hair looked like he didn't even give it a brush of hand.

"Why are you always sleepy? I heard from your roommates that you don't really do much inside your room anyway," one of the seniors gave him a noogie.

"I thought you didn't know there was a party tonight?" he asked him.

"I heard from some of the third year senpais about it and I didn't like the food at the dorm so I went here," Hayate replied. He then looked up and saw the buffet table. "That's food, gotta go."

"Speaking of food, we better get Misa—" he turned to face Kaname but he wasn't beside him anymore. He looked around and saw him chatting with a group of girls. They looked like freshmen who were all swooning on him.

"Ever the ladykiller, that best friend of yours," he just scratched his head and told them he'll get back to his table.

Nobara was already there when he got back, but only Misaki's handbag was on her chair. Megane also wasn't there. Nobara, Anna and Nonoko all had food already.

"Where's Misaki? I was going to ask her to get food with me. And where's Mega—" he asked as he looked around. He then saw Megane talking with some guys, he recognized them as their batchmates.

"About time you got hungry," Misaki then arrived, carrying two plates full of food. She set one in front of him and another for her own. "It was a bit hard to get that here without bumping into anyone. Where's Kaname-kun? I wasn't able to get his food for him."

"Using his charms, as usual," he said as he picked up the spoon and fork. "You're the best, Misaki! You got everything!"

Anna, Nonoko and Nobara all got up later to talk to some friends they saw. He and Misaki stayed at their table, eating dessert.

"I saw some members of SCA here, maybe we can introduce ourselves later, or get to know other applicants too," he said. He took a spoon of cake but Misaki tapped the spoon with hers. They had filled one plate with all the dessert and decided to just share.

"I get the strawberry," she stuck out her tongue before getting piece that had the strawberry on top.

"Oh, Tsubasa-kun? I'm surprised you attended this party," a girl, a senior, was passing by their table but stopped. She had long hair and wore glasses.

"Shizune-senpai," he recognized her. "My friend insisted we come, and yet he left us here. By the way, this is Misaki. Misaki, this is Shizune-senpai, we came from the same high school, she's a senior now and she's also part of our student council. I heard Shizuka-chan went to another university."

"Yeah, anyway she's taking up a broadcasting course, that school's famous for it," she took a drink from the waiter passing by. "Are you joining an organization?"

"We're applying for SCA," he smiled at Misaki who just kept on eating.

"Akira's org," she made a face and then she got up. "Anyway, I hope you two enjoy the party."

* * *

"She's so beautiful, Tsubasa," Misaki said as she looked at Shizune's retreating figure. She had a strict air to her but she carried herself with elegance. She looked like a no-nonsense type of girl. "I bet she's the beautiful senior all you guys had a crush on back in high school."

"Nah, she's scary, you know," Tsubasa focused his attention on the dessert on the plate. He took a marshmallow dipped in chocolate then looked at her. "She's been part of the student council ever since elementary. I have a collection of notices for being late from her."

"Oi, Tsubasa, did you see Miss Scary-face? She's here," just then, Hayate came to their table with his own plate of food. He took the seat Shizune had vacated, the one in front of them.

"She was just here, from that seat you're sitting on right now," they both laughed as the look on Hayate's expression turned from sleepiness to utter horror. "He also has a collection of late notices from her."

"She's so scary, she even scolds me for sleeping behind a tree in the school's yard," Hayate told her and then he turned back to Tsubasa. "I'm surprised she and Shizuka-chan are sisters, Tsubasa. By the way, how's she?"

"I think she's fine, I heard she's taking a broadcasting course in another university," Tsubasa told him. "Hey, you got the strawberry, at least let me get the cherry!"

"Fits Shizuka-chan, alright. She was pretty loud, and always been a part of the school news team," just then, Hayate's look stopped on her, and he seemed as if he just realized something. "I probably shouldn't be talking about her, sorry, uhm, ah, what's your name again?"

"Misaki, and why are you saying sorry to me? Who's Shizuka-chan?" Hayate looked like he was sorry for bringing up her dog that just died.

"Eh? Tsubasa, are you hiding your past from her? How awkward must it be with Scary-face here earlier!" Hayate's look turned to horror again as he looked at Tsubasa.

"Shizune-senpai's sister is your ex-girlfriend?" she looked at Tsubasa. He just nodded.

"Sorry, Tsubasa, didn't mean to tattle about your ex to your girlfriend," Hayate looked down.

"I'm not her girlfriend, Hayate-kun," her's eyes widened. And then she turned to Tsubasa. "But Tsubasa, wow, if Shizune-senpai is that pretty, her sister must be too. Is she younger? Or is she older than you too?"

"She's not your girlfriend? Why didn't you tell me?" Hayate turned to Tsubasa.

"I didn't have to, you just assumed that, or did you hear about the house plan too?" Tsubasa just kept on eating as if it wasn't a big deal. "She's 1 year my junior, looks like a younger and brighter version of senpai."

"I see," she tried picturing a brighter version of Shizune. It was hard. All she knew was that she must be pretty. "Shizune-senpai must have thought I was your girlfriend too. She suddenly looked at me when you mentioned her sister's name. She might say something to her, is that okay with you?"

"Probably. But it's okay, don't worry," he smiled at her. "Wanna dance? We've eaten so much already."

She agreed and they left Hayate at the table. The dance floor was packed but they had fun, nonetheless. The others soon found their way to them and were dancing too. Some of the SCA members recognized them and they were able to chat with them a bit, and also met some of the other applicants. Kaname was sometimes with them, sometimes not, each time with a flock of girls with him.

The party ended at 10. Megane, Anna and Nonoko went back to the university dorms together with other North Dorms residents. Tsubasa and Kaname walked Misaki home, dragging Hayate with them. Nobara had left the party earlier.

"I didn't attend this party last year because I didn't have anyone to go with. Thanks, you guys, I met a lot of people because you made me attend this party," she smiled at them. They had reached her apartment. The three guys didn't step in anymore because it was getting late. "Oh, and Tsubasa, we're still going at 9 tomorrow. Good night, guys."

* * *

As expected, Misaki got to the station earlier than Tsubasa. She was 5 minutes early while Tsubasa was 5 minutes late.

"Tsk, tsk, you make a girl wait?" she shook her head in disapproval when he approached her. "And where's Hayate-kun? Is he not going home?"

"Here, I figured I'd be late so I got this for us," he was holding a two-cup coffee holder from a familiar coffee shop and a paper bag for pastries also from that café. She took one cup and they entered the train platform to wait for the next train. "Hayate was still asleep according to some people in their wing so I went alone. I guess he'll go when he wakes up."

The next train arrived and they boarded that one. They were able to find seats for the two of them and ate the buns he bought for them. It was a long ride and they talked about a lot before Tsubasa had to get off at the station where he'd be switching trains going to Shimoda.

"Hey, I want some crabs, bring me some on Monday," she joked as he was preparing his luggage.

"I'll just send them your address in Hamamatsu and make them walk there," he joked back. The train then stopped, and Tsubasa got off the train.

She felt a bit sad when the train went on again. She'd been riding the train since freshman year alone that eventually, the long trip didn't feel that long anymore. Riding with Tsubasa made it seem to her that those lone trips back and forth really were long.

It was Monday when she saw her friends again. The 'first week of school' hype was now over and the classes started to really kick off. So did the organization application process.

SCA is famous among the Architecture-based clubs as the one with the hardest application process, but that's because even the recruitment is in line with entrepreneurship. It's like a job application process where being considered for the job meant training and proving yourself. The application process would last until a couple of weeks before the end of the first term. Only then will the accepted applicants be selected and be proclaimed part of the organization.

Both in academics and the application process, Tsubasa was doing really well, she noticed. Tsubasa was the type you'd think would be cramming everything he needs to do and just pass whatever to fulfill a requirement, but he was always ready. They've had a few submissions for SCA like an autobiography and such, but while most would be cramming those before the sessions, Tsubasa would just pull out his when it's time to submit them. Same thing goes for their architecture classes. She didn't know if she had simply stereotyped him or he really was just exuding that attitude, but she had expected that Tsubasa would be doing their plates either last minute or last night. She was wrong. Tsubasa's plates were always ready and they were obviously not rushed. Tsubasa had a clean style and she noticed that from the careful formatting of his papers.

He was still always sleepy or inattentive in class, though. Like that afternoon.

"Okay, class, since Andou-san there looks like he's bored with our lesson, let's have a quiz, a quick recap of everything I've taught you so far," that was the first thing Jinno said when he got inside the room and saw Tsubasa's head face-down on the desk.

Tsubasa raised his head in confusion. The entire class whined. They just had a quiz the last meeting. And last week too. And last, last week too. At least those weeks they just had one quiz. It was the first time Jinno was giving them a quiz on both meetings. They all had no choice but to take out a sheet of paper. She gave one to Tsubasa before he even asked.

Jinno started the quiz and it was especially hard, aside from the fact that it was a comprehensive test of everything he's taught so far. "Okay that's enough, pass your papers now."

He then gave out the papers of their past quizzes. "Do you know why I teach Math for you Architecture majors? Because you tend to be lazy with this subject after a while, and that can't be for any Architecture major. Believe me, I've been teaching this subject for years, and every time, there would be those students who think they've mastered this and this is too easy for them and fail at the end. I hate that kind of student. But what I especially hate, are the ones who are at the top of the class, do well on the first half, then ultimately fail at the end. Andou, Harada, I hope you both are not that kind of student," he then gave them their papers.

They've had 3 quizzes so far aside from today's quiz, and when she looked at her papers, she had all of them perfect. She looked over at Tsubasa's who spread them on his hand like a deck of cards to show her and he also had them all perfect.

"This class is Narumi-sensei's block, isn't it? I've heard about you two, let's see if you're together for better or for worse," she blushed and got scared at the same time. "Especially you, Andou."

* * *

After re-reading this before submitting, I realized nothing much happened in this chapter. But I do hope you get a feel of how the characters are going to be from this chapter. Well, if you got to this part, please do leave a review for me too :) See you next week!


	4. Chapter 4

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

"I've heard about you two, let's see if you're together for better or for worse. Especially you, Andou," Jinno turned around and went back in front to start the lesson.

Tsubasa and Misaki looked at each other with wide eyes. Tsubasa felt the sleepiness go away and was wide awake the whole lesson. Thanks goodness he did because Jinno kept on pelting him with questions.

"Now that was scary," Megane said when they got out of the classroom. "You better watch out now, Tsubasa-kun."

"I was especially sleepy today, though, why today of all days?" he said as he yawned. "I had to stay up late to review for that quiz on 121. Why did they have to put 121 and Math on the same day anyway?"

"Oh, hey guys, looks like Math isn't boring today," they passed by Kaname and Nobara who were arriving for their Math class.

"What do you mean isn't boring, you guys better prepare, he gave us a surprise quiz," he said as he fist-bumped with Kaname.

"A comprehensive one, at that," Misaki added as she smiled at the two.

"We already had a quiz on 121 and now another quiz?" Kaname's eyes widened. "I stayed up late for that 121, my brain won't function anymore!"

They all laughed before heading off. Anna and Nonoko went back to their dorms. The three of them then went to SCA's clubroom. They are required to stay in the clubroom for a required number of hours per week.

"Ah, there they are," Tono, as they have expected, was there. He immediately put an arm around him. "For those who haven't met him, this guy right here is my mentee. Pretty good looking like me, huh."

SCA assigns a mentor for each applicant. How the recruitment team assigns them though, is still a mystery. And Tono is his mentor, much to his chagrin. He thinks that Kaname would have matched Tono better.

"Hey, that's Hajime, external relations head, go do his task right now and get his sign. He doesn't come here much so grab this chance," he whispered to him while pointing to a lanky guy with a bandage on his neck. "Don't worry, he just got into an accident, he won't beat you up."

He gulped then looked at Misaki who was also looking at the guy. She then looked at Megane who also nodded. They then made their way to approach the silent guy.

"Uhm, hi, we're applicants. I'm Tsubasa, this is Misaki and Megane," he gave out his hand. The guy looked at them one by one then took his hand.

"I'm Hajime, external relations head. What year are you?" he didn't smile but the air around him seemed to relax a bit.

"We're all second years," Misaki answered for them with a smile.

"Sophomores, my mentee is a second year too, do you guys know him? His name was Hayate, yeah that's right, Matsudaira Hayate," he looked up as he tried to remember. "Haven't met him, though."

They all tried to hide their grin. An almost never seen mentor, and a sleepyhead mentee, what a match. Even he was really surprised when they found out Hayate was applying for SCA too. They found out later that he was a late sign up, who just went along with some of his blockmates who were applying too. "He's my classmate since grade school, and he also stays at the East Boys' Dorm. He's probably just sleeping, wait, let me try to call him," he took out his phone and gave Hayate a ring before texting him to get his butt here.

They chatted a bit with Hajime before he gave them his personal task as he was an officer. His task was simply to answer his questions about the current corporate sponsors of the organization, which were discussed to them during the first few applicants' assemblies. Hayate came after they were done and they left the pair to get to know each other.

"How was he? He's pretty cool, huh?" Tono immediately went between him and Megane. "A bit silent but really killer in getting sponsors. So, Andou, let's have a man to man talk."

Tono led him to the balcony at the back of the clubroom. "Your girlfriend, Harada, she's really pretty, since when have you been together?"

"That's why you took me here? And she's not my girlfriend," he looked out to see an aerial view of the campus grounds. The Architecture building was only 4 floors high, but really huge, and clubrooms are in the fourth floor, each having their own balcony. "I just met her when we became blockmates this semester."

"Oh, she's not your girlfriend? So that means I can hit on her," Tono's eyes glinted and looked over at Misaki who was talking with her mentor, the club president herself. He lightly dunked Tono's head away with his hand.

"Why am I always surrounded by perverts?" he scratched his head and leaned on the railings.

"Anyway, how's SCA for you? You've only gone on assemblies so far and we haven't really asked you to submit real outputs, but what do you think?"

"Except for the fact that my mentor's a pervert, I think I like it here. It's easy to be with the people here and I like the org's atmosphere," he answered truthfully.

"That's good. Just remember that you can ask me anything when you need help," Tono gave him an assuring smile. "Especially if it's about girls." WHACK!

* * *

"What was that?" she said to Tsubasa when he went back inside the clubroom and joined her and the other applicants.

"Nothing," he just smiled. "By the way, I'm going with you later, I need to buy some materials not available in the university shop."

"Okay. Do you have an idea for our individual output already? I still can't think of any," one of the final requirements for the application is a design for a small multi-purpose hall for the beneficiary village of one of SCA's main projects.

"I'm still thinking about it. The theme's 'peace and joy', I'm thinking of something simple with a playground or whatever," he said, looking up at the ceiling of the clubroom.

That Friday, they had their first major program for the application process, Projects workshop. In the workshop, they were taught the basics of coming up with startup projects and handling them. Afterwards, they were grouped and were given a situation in which they had to come up with an idea for a startup project.

She and Tsubasa were put in the same group.

"So we have a sponsor and a beneficiary, but what event do we do? Since the theme is education, I think we have to do something like workshops," most of the applicants were freshmen and sophomores, but there were also a handful of juniors, and Kana, a junior, was part of the group and naturally led them.

"There would be no much end-product there, that would be small for the budget given by the sponsor," the brainstorming went on. The group mostly decided on having a teaching caravan and giving out kits that are about architecture at each caravan. They all knew they were still lacking something, though.

Tsubasa, who was lightly joining the brainstorming earlier, blew on the air then raised his body, which was leaned back the entire session. "Look, remember that the sponsor is an architecture firm. The caravan is fine, but it doesn't really have that much of an impact. What about a designing contest? Then we put up an exhibit where all entries will be placed and also some designs from the architects themselves, and instead of caravans, we just do a one day workshop there, ending with a tour of the exhibit. I think it would be more inspiring to see actual plates rather than the usual talks." Everyone was looking at him and they were all at awe. Even Misaki couldn't help but be impressed. He noticed the look the whole group gave him. "What?"

"Nothing, but I think we all agree with what he said? I think it's a really good idea, we just have to specify requirements for the contest," she gave him a smile before facing the group. Everyone nodded at her. "Okay, so I think we're settled with that, a contest and an exhibit it is then. But I think we should do this a one week exhibit. Venues for things like this can be costly but I think this would attract a lot of schools and also clients for the firm. A small venue would be okay and then we hold talks everyday for a week or a few days to accommodate everyone who would attend. As for speakers, since we want to inspire students into taking up architecture, we can get upper level architecture students, preferably those already having their practicum, and one from the firm. For the contest mechanics, we ask them to design for example, a small house. And theme's economical yet stylish. And we can also specify the materials to be considered in designing the structure."

The group's pace suddenly went faster and everyone became more excited. They were able to take note of all the details before it was time to present each group's project.

For his group, Kaname was the main presenter. They didn't know if he was doing it on purpose, but he kept on flashing a charming smile every now and then.

"He's doing that on purpose, I'm telling you," Tsubasa whispered to her. "Don't fall for it, you'll lose your concentration."

She just nodded at Tsubasa. Kaname was really handsome and he knew how to use his charms. Everyone's attention was focused on him, the females all swooning, the males all irritated.

"Hey, you're presenting for our group, stop looking, we'll kill you if you can't present properly," Tsubasa nudged her this time. He then looked at their other groupmates. "Why did we choose an all-girls team to present for us, anyway?"

All three of them who will present their group's idea were girls. And right now, they were all focused on Kaname. Kaname's group's idea was actually nice and interesting but everyone was more focused on Kaname than what he and his groupmates were saying.

After Kaname's group's presentation, it was their group. Luckily, she and the two others were able to regain their composure and went in front.

She was nervous. She was every time she needs to present in front of people. But they were able to present smoothly. They were even given a standing ovation by Tono.

"That old man really is a pervert," Tsubasa said when they went back to them. "But good job, you three, I really thought we had to whack you because you were distracted by that Kaname. Especially you, Misaki, never thought you were the type to grow hearts in your eyes. Seems like you're a girl not just because of chromosomes."

WHACK! "Would you repeat that, Tsubasa?" her eyebrows twitched.

"No, Madam, no!" Tsubasa quickly said as he rubbed the right side of his face. "God, Misaki, you have the strength of 10 wrestlers!" WHACK! BAM!

* * *

"Hey, are you still mad about yesterday? My face still hurts, you know," the following morning, as has been the case since the start of the semester, Tsubasa met up with Misaki at the train station. But this time, he came earlier than her. Around two minutes earlier, actually. He handed her his usual apology treat, coffee from the café just a few blocks away from the station, and, as he eventually figured out, is Misaki's favorite coffee shop. "Here, and sorry for yesterday again."

Misaki accepted the cup. She inhaled the aroma first before taking a sip. She seemed to relax a bit. "But you really did well yesterday. You weren't nervous at all."

"What do you mean not nervous? My nerves won't stop shaking the moment I stood up from my seat," her voiced raised a bit that everyone else in the train looked at them. She immediately lowered her voice.

"It didn't show though. You were really great out there, I'm telling you," he was telling the truth. They had no gimmicks whatsoever but Misaki definitely caught everyone's attention, well, at least he was sure **he** was really attentive at that time. She presented each detail clearly and with much confidence that had he been Tono, as Projects Head, he would definitely give her a standing ovation too and accept her project proposal on the spot. Misaki's skills plus the fact that the idea was really good. "You seemed confident in presenting and in our idea. Everyone was listening despite the lack of 'Kaname tactics'."

They both laughed. "By the way, remind me to check my webmail later, I might forget to go online when I start making that homework for 101," Misaki remembered as they were nearing his stop.

"Oh shoot, good thing you reminded me, I almost forgot we had that homework for 101, that's why I felt like I was too free," he scratched his head. "Yeah, okay, I'll text you. And recruitment team is releasing groupmates for project output tonight, you have to check that too. And we've arrived at my station, I'll text you later. See you on Monday."

* * *

As she said, she almost forgot to go online once she started doing homework for 101. And Tsubasa almost forgot to remind her too, since he fell asleep immediately after lunch. It was almost dinner when she received a text from him asking if she had already seen the assigned groupings for project output. She immediately went online to check it. They didn't become groupmates after all. Actually, they were all separated, Tsubasa, Kaname, Megane, Nobara, and her.

At that time, Tsubasa had only started making his homework for 101. They then shared opinions on each other's homework ideas.

Things started getting hectic the following week. All of their classes were in full blown lecture modes and SCA's application process is starting to get more serious too.

"Hey, Tsubasa, were you able to study for 121?" was her greeting first thing on Tuesday morning.

"Yeah, I did, but we're probably going to have a quiz on Math today too, huh? We're already done with last week's lesson," he said as he placed his things under the table.

"I didn't, since I already felt that we're going to have a quiz on Math today, I studied that one," Megane's face was flat on the table, facing them. They could see the dark circles beneath his glasses.

Kazu then arrived and class started with a quiz.

"I'm pretty sure I almost failed that one. Good thing it was a bit easy," Megane said, depressed, as they went to the cafeteria for lunch. "I can probably still pass that one."

"Hey, it's alright, just make sure you focus in class, you won't have a hard time studying after if you do," she smiled at him. They ate lunch and went to their Math classroom immediately to do some last minute reviewing just in case Jinno decided to give them a quiz again. And he lived up to their expectations. He did give a quiz after a short recap of last week's lesson.

"It was a good thing I reviewed for that one, if I didn't, I would have forgotten how to solve those problems already," Megane exclaimed as soon as they were out of the classroom. They all laughed and chatted along the way and then Anna and Nonoko headed for the North Dorms while the three of them went to SCA's clubroom.

It's been a pattern, they always had lunch together. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Nobara and Kaname are with them, then they'll go on their separate classes again. After Math, Tsubasa, Megange, and she would go to SCA's clubroom, Anna and Nonoko would go back to the dorms, while Nobara and Kaname would go to the clubroom after their last class. Tsubasa would always need to text Hayate to go to the clubroom, though.

"Hey, applicants, are you ready for this week's workshop? It's time for Marketing so make sure you attend on Friday, okay?" Chiaki, who also happens to be Megane's mentor, announced at the clubroom. She was really energetic, much like Megane.

"You know, this mentor and mentee thing? I think they matched it according to personality. But does that mean the recruitment team thinks I'm a pervert too?" Tsubasa said, horrified at the thought, as he looked at Chiaki who was coming down from the table she climbed on when she did her announcement. They just laughed at him.

That night, they received an email from Fukutan saying that there will be reporting for their class on Friday. He gave them the topic and asked them to just group themselves into 3 persons per group. She immediately sent a message to Tsubasa and Megane who quickly accepted.

* * *

"Hey, Tsubasa, where's the canvas? Megane-kun, did you bring your laptop?" Friday morning and they were all panicking. "Gosh, we still have a workshop at SCA later!"

"Don't panic, we got it," Megane smiled and opened his laptop to show her the presentation. Tsubasa took out the canvas where they drew and colored the image Fukutan included in his email. She gave it a quick look before she finally settled in her chair.

"Okay guys, is everyone prepared for the presentation? I'm sorry for the short notice, I forgot to send the email during the weekend," Fukutan said when he arrived. "Okay, shall we start?"

Because of Tsubasa's surname, they had to start first. They set up the projector and the canvas on the easel prepared by Fukutan. Since it was just a quick presentation, Misaki spoke for the group by herself, the two only butting in a few times.

"We survived that, guys, can you believe that?" Megane said when they got out of the classroom.

"But we still have workshop later," she reminded them. "Do your groups have a project idea for the group output already? Submission's tomorrow."

"My group's done with the Project Overview, that's all we have to submit tomorrow, right?" Megane answered.

"Yeah, we already have an idea but we haven't finalized it so we haven't written the overview," Tsubasa said. They reached the cafeteria and had lunch before their next class.

Later at the workshop held by the Marketing department, they were split into groups again after the talk and were given the task to advertise a fictional project.

She and Nobara got into the same group. Tsubasa and Megane got into the same group also.

"Hey guys, give it your all, the Marketing department is giving a special prize to the group who advertises the project the best," the Marketing department vice president announced. That sparked competitiveness among the groups. Each group started planning more seriously. Traditional to outrageous plans for advertising can be heard from each group's conversation.

"Kaname, go dance or sing or take off your shirt," Kaname's group was particularly loud.

"How does that relate to the project?" "I dunno, but it'll surely make all the ladies agree with whatever we say. There's no rule that says attendees have to be both guys and girls."

"Hey, if Kaname is one of that group's speakers, I'll be our main speaker," they heard Tsubasa say. She and Nobara looked up and saw him observing Kaname whose group was on the other side of the room. "I have a feeling all the girls will be distracted again."

He then looked at her direction with eyes saying, "looks like your group's dead meat." She aimed her fist at him and mouthed, "I'm not speaking for my group, idiot!"

"They had better be prepared for our group," Nobara giggled. They both looked at their guy groupmates who were practicing what they will be saying later. They then went back to making the poster that they will also present in front.

As expected, Kaname was one of the presenters of his group. This time though, he was more focused on advertising than using his charms.

"He's good at creatives and he's good at presenting, definitely for marketing," she said to Nobara. "He's good even without deliberately using his charms."

"I think it comes naturally though," Nobara said then laughed.

"That's it, I'll be presenting for our group," they heard Tsubasa say to his groupmates. They looked over at his group.

"Yup, they are already distracted," Megane said as he waved his hand in front of their female groupmates who didn't even notice because they were too busy fangirling on Kaname.

Tsubasa's group's presenters were an all boys group led by Tsubasa. He was relaxed in front, casually explaining what the project is all about.

"Tsubasa is actually cool right now," she couldn't help saying. He didn't have Kaname's public speaking skills, but she was more focused on Tsubasa than she was during Kaname's presentation. He had a clean style of presenting, much like in his plates and other outputs. And she was pretty sure he did most of the poster, which looked really nice. Once again, she was impressed. And looks like most others were, too.

"Andou-kun's really good looking and he's so cool," she heard girls from other groups say. "But isn't he with Harada-san? They're always together."

"I heard they weren't an item, that's good news, I guess." "Oh my gosh, did you see that smile?" "Ahh, it was a really good decision to take up Architecture. There are so many good looking guys in here."

The group reached the end of their presentation and she saw Tsubasa blow a breath of relief. They went back to sit with their groupmates who were near them. Tsubasa stopped in front of her.

"Did I do okay?" he asked her. Despite the emcee calling on the next presenting group, everyone was looking at them. "Hey, how was I?"

"You did okay," she raised her two thumbs and a nervous smile. She can feel the girls' jealous stares at her while Tsubasa was oblivious.

"Whew, I was nervous as hell," he smiled at her before going back to his seat.

"I thought you said they weren't an item?" "But I heard some people ask them and they both said no."

"Contrary to what Kaname-kun said, looks like you'll be getting more haters than fans," Nobara said.

"I prefer fans than haters," she laughed nervously.

In the end, it was Kaname's group that earned the best group award for that workshop. They had to admit, they made the best poster and were also the best presenting group overall.

"You're the best in creatives, after all," Tsubasa said as he playfully shook Kaname's head when they were going home. "But you were still deliberately charming all the girls."

"Hey, I wasn't doing that," Kaname denied. A couple of their female co-applicants then passed by them and waved at him. "Bye, be careful on the way!"

"And there you go, all thoughts of Kaname-kun being cool just went away," she said and they all laughed. As per usual, they split up when they got out of the building. "Hey, Tsubasa, don't even dare be late tomorrow, I want to go home early."

"Yeah, yeah, I won't, oi, Kaname, you heard that, make sure I wake up to my alarm," he said to Kaname.

"You two go home together?" Hayate was also with them.

"Yeah, want to go with us? We go at 9 in the morning though, any later and she'll bite people." WHACK!

"You dare say that again, Tsubasa?" she said then faced Hayate with a smile. "You can join us, Hayate-kun, we meet at the train station at 9."

"Looks like no video games for me tonight," Hayate said. They then went their separate ways. The four guys go back to the dorms while she goes with Nobara who drops her off at her apartment since it's along the way.

Hayate did make it the following morning, but Tsubasa had to drag him.

"Here, Misaki, sorry I forgot to wake him up earlier," Tsubasa said to her as he handed her the usual coffee. "It's a good thing the people at the coffee shop already knows me, the order was quickly processed."

"I forgot to set up my alarm, sorry, Harada-san," Hayate said to her. The train arrived and they boarded that one. Tsubasa sat beside her while Hayate took the seat across the aisle from them. He was playing games on his console and was sleeping a few minutes later. Tsubasa woke him up when they were nearing their stop.

The following weeks that followed was marked by projects, homeworks, quizzes, exams, and workshops both in academics and their application to SCA. In almost every meeting in 101 under Narumi, they had to pass an output. 111 under Fukutan was filled with alternating outputs and reports. 121 under Kazu was for the most part just boring lectures, but they had quizzes from time to time, a few papers, and one exam. Math was stressful as always. Don't even mention it, as Megane always said.

SCA too was getting a bit heavy for them applicants. Workshops from each department were done and now they focus on fulfilling each department's official tasks and on their individual and group outputs. Their schedules were filled to the brim, but it was fun nonetheless. How Hayate was still able to play video games, though, is still a mystery to them, even to his roommates, according to Tsubasa and Kaname.

It was the week before midterms, and even 101 is going to have a written exam. Everyone was busy trying to review and copy notes they lacked. 121, Math, and Physics were particularly being prepared for since they already knew how hard the exams are going to be since they already had their first exam before this.

They were in their classroom waiting for Narumi when a few female blockmates they had come to get to know a bit approached them, or rather, Tsubasa.

"Andou-kun, there are some parts in this lesson we didn't understand, can you explain them to us?"

"You can just see my homework and see what details you missed," Tsubasa gave them his homework for that lesson, in which he got the highest mark, having gotten every detail right. "Just give it back after class. Hey, Misaki, since we're not going home this weekend, want to review together? Let's stay at your favorite coffee shop."

The girls looked a bit disappointed that Tsubasa dismissed them immediately but said thanks and went back to their seats.

"You are a bit dense, aren't you?" she said as she shook her head. "But yeah, sure, we can do that this weekend, it'll be nice to have someone to compare notes with. Just make sure you are not noisy or distracting in any way when I'm reviewing."

Kaname joined them that weekend in the café. Hayate was going to join them too, but he had to go home to Shimoda.

The following week, the midterms week, was marked by heavy bags due to bringing of reviewers and books. Juggling reviewing and accomplishing tasks for SCA, they had somehow survived the hellish week. The week after that, almost all professors were able to release the results of the exams and posted these outside their doors.

It was Thursday when all of their classes released the results of the exams, except for Math, that is.

"Good afternoon, class. I had just finished checking all of your test papers and I will be releasing your grades tomorrow. Just pass by my office and it will be posted there before noon. I do hope that you did well on your other subjects because well, Math might come out to be bad news for you," Jinno said as soon as he got inside their classroom. They all tensed up at his last statement.

The following morning, as Jinno had promised, the grades of all three blocks were already posted on the bulletin board outside his office. To keep their scores a bit anonymous, professors usually used their student id numbers instead of their name. Jinno did the same, especially since they saw a lot of low scores on the lists.

"I did alright, what about you guys?" she asked them. She was with Tsubasa, Megane, Anna, and Nonoko. They went there after 111.

"I did okay too," Tsubasa said. Anna and Nonoko also said their scores were okay. Megane just nodded. He was quiet as they went back to their building to have lunch before their next class. They decided not to pry and let him be.

When they got to the cafeteria, it was brimming as usual since it was lunchtime. Luckily for them, Hayate was there having lunch. They joined him in his table.

"Hey, we've seen our scores in Math, did you see yours?" Tsubasa asked him.

"Not yet, planning to go there before going back to the dorm," he answered. They all ordered food and chatted while eating.

They were talking about their tasks and outputs for SCA when Megane finally spoke.

"Guys, I think I'll have to quit SCA."

* * *

Author's Note: Ahh, somehow managed to squeeze in the chapter I was working on for this week before I release Chapter 4. Well, I'm not yet actually done as I publish this, but I'll continue it after this. It's because I only got to writing it a couple of days ago. This week I got ill for a few days so I couldn't write. Anyway, this chapter marks the start of a technique I wanted to use in this story, I don't know if I'll be able to execute it properly, though. Well, I hope you like this chapter nonetheless, see you next week!


	5. Chapter 5

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

"Guys, I think I'll have to quit SCA."

They all looked at Megane surprised. He was dead serious yet he looked so sad about his decision.

"Why? You love it in SCA," Nonoko managed to speak first. It was true, out of all of them, Megane loved it in SCA the most. He was one of the most active applicants. He never missed a single deadline and attended all events hosted by SCA.

"Is this about Math?" Misaki asked. She noticed him start being quiet when they saw the results of their midterms. Megane nodded. "Did you, perhaps, fail?"

"No, but my current standing is below our required grade," he looked down. They had a minimum required grade in Math since it was a prerequisite of many of their major subjects. If they go below that, they'll be delayed, and if they fail that, they're out of the degree program. "I'll have to score higher in the next exams to pull that up. We're in the most important part of our application in SCA, I can't focus if I still have to think of that too. I'll have to give my 100 percent in Math since this really is my weakest subject."

They all went quiet. They knew all along that Math is Megane's weakest subject. He was barely getting anything from Jinno since he was the type to expect students to immediately understand the lesson when he explained it once.

"Why didn't you ask Tsubasa to teach you what you couldn't understand?" Hayate said nonchalantly. They all looked at him with a look that said, 'what is so obvious about that?' "Didn't you know? That guy's one of our top students back in high school. If it weren't for his usual tardiness and numerous detentions, that guy could have been at least rank 3. He's part of Math club too, one of the student teachers during remedial classes. Just don't ask him for help in subjects like 121, he's useless in those kinds of subjects."

"Hey, you're usually with me during those detentions," Tsubasa defended himself. "He's the reason why I didn't make it to rank 3. He got me involved in a prank that earned us a visit to the principal's office."

"Anyway, you don't have to quit SCA, I'm telling you, it's just Math you're having problems with, right? Just ask Tsubasa to teach you what you don't understand, and get help from others for requirements in SCA when you need more time for Math," Hayate continued, still eating.

"We'll all help you, Megane-kun, so don't quit, we're all in this together," she smiled at him. Even Nonoko and Anna promised they'll help.

Megane was still unsure after that, but he didn't quit his application in SCA. The following weeks after that they spent juggling academics and SCA application again. Every Tuesday and Thursday, Tsubasa would help Megane review what their lesson in Math was after class. Misaki even made a study plan for him. There were many times he almost wanted to give up and quit SCA, but they convinced him not to. They had no choice but to make sure Megane lessened his activity in SCA.

"It's okay if you don't attend each and every event, Megane-kun," his mentor, Chiaki, told him after she learnt of his current predicament. And they made sure he didn't, especially when they had quizzes for the week.

* * *

Slowly, Megane got used to his new schedule. His quizzes in Math started getting better. He was also starting to get more time for his other homeworks instead of cramming them.

"Okay, Misaki made this set for you, it's a short comprehensive quiz of this week's lessons," Tsubasa said to him as he handed him a sheet of paper with questions written by Misaki. They were at the lobby of the East Boys Dorm. "What you're having a hard time with is recalling an older lesson once there's a new one. You need to go over these exercises again next week."

Megane answered the quiz and then gave it back to him for him to check. He got most of it right. "See, we finished earlier today. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to remember how to solve something by just look at the given. When you get back to your room, you can probably make some progress on that individual output for SCA."

"Thanks, Tsubasa-kun," he said to him before heading back to his dorm.

* * *

"It's okay if not everyone performs but we're hoping everyone attends this Friday's party since it's your event, applicants," the head of the recruitment team said. It was the HR department's task. The applicants have to arrange an event for the organization. It's actually a party where they invite the members of SCA and present themselves as a batch and get to know them.

"Megane-kun, let's take a break from all that studying, let's attend this one," Nobara said.

"Yeah, it's okay to relax once in a while," Misaki agreed. "Plus it's the HR department's task, that's your mentor's department, she'd like to see you there."

"And Misaki and Nobara-san will be dancing," Tsubasa said and hi-fived with Kaname. "I'll make sure to video it, Misaki, might be a good thing to watch when I get depressed." WHACK!

"I don't have much dance skills, but I've never heard anyone say that I dance funny, Tsubasa," she said as she shook off her hands after whacking him. "Anyway, Megane-kun, don't you want to see the presentations you contributed for this?"

"Okay, okay, I'll attend apps' night," Megane had no choice but to agree with them.

* * *

The days leading to the applicants' night were spent practicing and preparing. Misaki and Nobara would go to Kana's house after class to practice their dance performance. Megane was with the team in charge of overall presentation of the set and he already submitted the presentations he was asked to do so he didn't have much to do about the event during the week. He just continued tutorial sessions with Tsubasa at the East Boys Dorm.

"Oh, how's it going, Megane-kun?" Kaname had just gotten back to the dorms after a meeting with the team in charge of decorations.

"I'm alright, I guess, Tsubasa's really good at math, it's easier for me to understand the lessons with him than with Jinno-sensei," Megane smiled. "By the way, aren't you guys going to practice? I thought you're gonna sing, Kaname-kun? With Tsubasa as part of the band."

"Yeah, we are, we're practicing later," Kaname laughed.

"He doesn't need practice actually, he's got a good voice," he said. "I can already see all the girls swooning."

"Don't worry, Tsubasa, Misaki-san's immune to his charms by now," Megane said as he tapped his shoulders.

"That's very funny, Megane, just do those exercises," he jokingly whacked Megane's head. "By the way, did you guys hear? Kana-senpai said Hayate's beatboxing for the rappers. I never thought he's got skills in those kinds of things."

"That's another thing to add to our LOL videos," Kaname joked. "But Nobara-san would probably look so cute during their dance."

"Megane, we have to restrain this guy during the trio's dance, remind me that," he said to Megane with a worried face.

"Yeah, he might get a nosebleed or suddenly kidnap Nobara-san, imagine her shock if he does that," they laughed imagining prim and proper Nobara panicking. "I wonder about those two's dance skills though. Misaki-san looks like she can do anything."

"Nah, Misaki doesn't look like the type who dances well to me," he disagreed. "I have more faith in Nobara-san to do better in dancing than Misaki."

"Of course, Nobara-san is so pretty, it wouldn't be a surprise if Misaki-san and Kana-senpai would look like back up dancers beside her," Kaname said looking dreamily up the ceiling. He's probably imagining Nobara shining with Misaki and Kana on either side of her.

"Are you saying Misaki's not pretty?" his eyebrow twitched. "I don't think she looks less pretty than Nobara-san, though."

"Of course, the "partner" wouldn't agree. You've only got eyes for Misaki, dude, how can you actually judge who's prettier." WHACK!

"Right, Kaname, right," he said sarcastically. "But I agree with you that Nobara-san would most probably be better than Misaki at dancing. Let's all imagine a graceful Misaki. But then you see a punch coming from her. Nope, grace and Misaki just don't go together."

"And if she's hearing you right now, that punch would be really coming," Megane added and they all laughed.

Friday came quickly. All applicants of SCA were busy. The event was still at 6 but as soon as class ended for their block, Misaki, Megane and he went to the venue immediately which was outside campus, near where the college acquaintance party was held. It was a smaller venue since it was only for the org. Actually, it was a club they rented. Some of their co-applicants were already there, decorating the club.

Hayate was also already there, much to their surprise. "Hey man, I thought you'd still be asleep at the dorms after your class," they fist-bumped as they approached him.

"Can't do that, I'm in charge of logistics," Hayate just laughed. It was his task to reserve the venue. "Heard your block had a workshop in 111 today. Not too stressed, Megane?"

"Nah it's okay, I was able to do my plates over the weekend so I didn't have to cram this time," Megane smiled. "Anyway, I'm helping out with the decorations."

"That's right, I still have to check on the others about the food," Hayate then took out his phone as he headed outside.

"Let's run through the program once more, Tsubasa," Misaki said to him as she pulled him to a table. They were in charge of the program together with Kana who was not yet there.

Later on, when the other applicants arrived, they also started checking their audio files and even their outfits. Co-applicants from the 3rd block arrived the latest, with some of them riding with Nobara, Kaname included.

"There you are, Sono-kun, is the projector screen position okay?" Kaname was head of the creatives team.

"Yeah, that's okay. Did you already check each presentation file? Make sure there's nothing wrong with them," Kaname then unrolled some of the canvases he brought. "Tsubasa, where's the blueprint I asked you to make?"

"Ibaragi, were you able to pick up the prizes?" Hayate approached Nobara.

The club was buzzing and soon they were ready to welcome their guests, the members of SCA.

They had prepared games, performances, and presentations. One of the games was the ever-famous Pocky game. They did a variant though, instead of being opponents, pairs were teammates. They have to be able to maintain the shortest piece. The pair with the shortest piece wins.

Since they were part of the programs team, he and Misaki should have been safe from the game. But everyone insisted they demonstrate, and in the end, they did demonstrate. Misaki held the biscuit part between her lips while he slowly ate the chocolate stick. He was getting near when he stopped and looked at Misaki as if he was really going all the way to her. That earned a huge roar from the audience. In the end, he just took a large bite but the distance was still far off.

"So yeah, this is the left over piece, shortest piece wins, but guys, we are expecting shorter pieces than this," he announced and went back to the side. The game started with many pairs. One of them was Kaname and Nobara, who they deliberately paired together as per Kaname's shy request. They left a relatively long piece, though. Tono and the club president, Kagura, won.

"What else to expect from the expert?" he said as he gave the pair their prize.

The night went on with more games and performances. He did record Misaki, Nobara and Kana's performance. It wasn't a LOL worthy video, though. The trio did really well. And contrary to what they had expected, Misaki wasn't that bad a dancer. She was actually better than Nobara who got a bit shy during the dance number. He didn't know if it was just him or if Misaki really was good at projecting, but she looked really nice whenever she smiled during the performance. He strongly believes it's the latter. And Kaname was able to restrain himself despite Nobara looking really pretty in the trio's outfit.

Hayate's beatboxing with two rappers with him was LOL video worthy though. They did good, truth be told, but whatever Hayate did was mostly LOL worthy anyway.

* * *

"Hey, have you eaten?" Tsubasa approached her with two plates full of food. She had just come down the stage after her dance performance with Nobara and Kana. A jacket was slung on his arm. "Take my jacket."

The aircon of the club was on full blast and she was wearing a sleeveless top and a matching skirt that reached above her knees. She took his jacket and he led her to a table at the side of the club.

"How was I? I probably danced funny," she said as she took a forkful of pasta.

"I recorded your whole performance, Misaki," he said with a huge grin. "Not LOL worthy though, you three did really well."

"You sure?" she asked. He gave her his camera.

"See for yourself, you judge," he said as he continued eating. She watched the video while eating. She must say she didn't look bad. Or was Tsubasa a good cameraman too? He zoomed in on her face at the right times when she was gleaming. "I'm such a good cameraman, aren't I? You don't look fat at all in that video." WHACK! "Megane and Kaname took pictures by the way. But I suggest looking at Megane's photos only, Kaname's is probably full of Nobara-san only."

A little while later, it was time for Kaname and Tsubasa's performance. Kaname was going to sing and play the guitar while Tsubasa was drummer using a beatbox.

"Ahh, acoustics plus good looks, I can see the fanbase getting larger," Megane said as the two set up on stage.

"Hi, as you all know, I'm Kaname, and this is my best friend, Tsubasa, we like to call ourselves the Bear and Friends, we're gonna sing three songs for you guys, so just sit down and relax, I hope you like this," Kaname spoke.

"He's the only one who likes to call ourselves that, by the way," Tsubasa appealed before they started.

Kaname's voice was really nice. He had just started but almost every girl in the room was already swooning.

"Kaname-kun sings really well, doesn't he," Nobara said to her. She was the one holding Tsubasa's camera and filming the two.

"Yeah, if only he wasn't such a Casanova," she said and they both laughed. Tsubasa was also providing a bit of backup vocals for Kaname. The two really were best friends. They even work well together in music.

"Kaname-kun is so perfect." "But I think Tsubasa-kun looks cooler right now than Kaname-kun." "Don't they both have a girlfriend?" "No, but I think Tsubasa-kun is with Misaki-san." "They both look so dreamy." Those were some of the comments she heard during the duo's performance. There were even some that would have scared her if these weren't her co-applicants and future orgmates.

She took a lot of pictures of the two. She even took a self taken picture of herself pointing to the two at the stage. The funny thing was, she took a lot of it but she either didn't look good or was blurred on the ones which captured the two. But there were ones which only showed mostly Tsubasa and her and those were the ones wherein she looked good. Tsubasa was even looking at one of them and smiling behind her as if he knew she was taking a selca with them.

She would later on use that as her profile picture in her SNS account with the caption, "what Tsubasa and I do while Kaname-kun sings his heart out." It would earn a lot of likes because of Kaname's funny face which was shown a bit on top of her head while both she and Tsubasa are smiling at the camera, and because it looked like a couple photo of the two of them. She looked really good in it though, which was why she would use it as her profile picture.

They formally ended the program later on and just opened the dance floor for those who wanted to dance. They were dancing as a group to fun music at the start but later on, at the right moment when the music changed to a ballad, she realized she was only with Tsubasa. They decided to slow dance to that. It was the only time that whole night that they were able to actually talk to each other.

"Hey, it's just halfway through the semester but I feel like we've been through a lot together," she said. Despite her high heels, she still couldn't level with Tsubasa's eyesight but at least she didn't have a really hard time looking up on him. "You're my first friend in architecture and now we're on our way to being orgmates too. I think college wouldn't be this fun if you didn't become my friend."

"There are still a lot coming our way, Misaki, let's survive the semester and be accepted to SCA together, and the semesters after that, with the whole gang," he said with a smile. "And hey, I'm glad you became my friend too. Just be a little less violent, okay, partner?" WHACK! "And I just said it! Totally doesn't fit the image of that dress you're wearing, Misaki." WHACK!

"By the way, I heard some comments during your performance. You're getting a huge fanbase, you playboy," she grinned. "But can I request something? Can you not get a girlfriend yet? I don't want my college days being haunted you know. I can already imagine a girl pulling my hair out of jealousy. And I'm not really willing to let go of your skills."

"You're using me," his eyes turned to slits.

"Well, what's a talented partner for if it's going to cost me my life?" she laughed and he laughed too. "Plus even if we don't get into the same block, if we get accepted into SCA, we're still in the same org so your future girlfriend would still be wary of me. I want to live my college life in peace, you know."

"And you two say you're not dating," Tono said as he and his dance partner, a member of SCA, got near them.

"Me and this playboy? No thanks," she said with a laugh.

"But she's really violent, why would I date her?" WHACK! "See?" WHACK! "Not to mention she eats so much." WHACK! BAM!

"You want to go home looking like a panda, Tsubasa?"

"No thanks."

Since the party ended a bit late, they decided to meet at the train station a bit later too. They took the 11 AM train this time. As usual, Tsubasa was a few minutes late. And as usual, he brought takeout food as an apology treat.

"Hey, I bought burgers this time, since we're still going to be on the trip at lunch time," he said as they boarded the train. "Hayate's still asleep, you know him, he'll probably just go home later."

"It's almost the end of our application process, are you almost done with your final output?" she asked as they ate on the train.

"Yeah, I'll probably just change a few more details and it's good to go next week," it was due next week. The following week after that would be defense of the group project proposal. And the following week, the last week for the application process, would be interviews. "What about yours? You've been working on it since it was announced."

"I'm done too, I think I'll just be changing a few things too, how's Megane-kun's by the way? Did you ask him?"

"His is coming along fine, I think he was at 90% yesterday. Don't worry, he'll make it, we just have to keep supporting him," he assured her.

The following week was the deadline of the final output for SCA. They were all able to submit theirs in time, even Megane. And the week after that was defense for each group's project proposal.

"Hey, don't you think this is scarier than Jinno?" Megane said as he paced back and forth outside the clubroom which was currently closed. All club officers were present for the defense. Right now, it was Kaname's group that was inside.

"Tono-senpai was on serious mode," Nobara, whose group was already done, said.

"Well, that's to be expected since he's one of the Projects department head," Tsubasa said as he looked over his group's folder.

"And not to mention the President is also a former Projects head," she said. Even she knew how serious her mentor can get.

"Whew! We barely survived!" Kaname exclaimed as soon as his group got out of the room.

"It was mostly thanks to your creative skills, Kaname-kun," one of his groupmates said. "You guys watch out for Hajime-senpai. He's not scary but his questions can get you."

It was Hayate's group's turn. A little while later, they got out, but they were more relaxed than Kaname's group.

"We were pretty okay, guys, you saved us back there, Hayate," his groupmates tapped Hayate. "You're actually good at talking, dude, you were able to answer all of Hajime-senpai's questions. Your mentor looked surprised at you."

"Like mentor, like mentee?" Megane commented.

"Just don't get taken aback, that's all I can say," Hayate said when he sat down beside them. "Oh, and Tsubasa, I've got a feeling your perverted mentor might go harder on your group because of you. Looks like mentors have pretty high expectations of their mentees."

Tsubasa gulped before going in with his groupmates. A little while later, they came out, but they were livelier than Hayate's group. "You guys made me too scared, as long as you know your project in and out, you'll be able to answer their questions. Just like Hayate said, just don't get taken aback."

Her group was one of the last ones to defend. When they got in, the officers were all smiling. They were also asking their questions calmly all throughout the defense. She didn't know if it was just her nerves, but they seemed pretty pressing as the defense went on. But as the others had said, she kept her mind focused on the details of their project. Her group was able to defend their project successfully.

"That's one more thing down, guys. Now it's time for the solo interview which I heard wasn't really as stressing as the defense," Kaname said when they went out to eat dinner after the defense.

"We can all focus on our academics after that," she agreed. They just had to wait for the announcement of accepted applicants after the interview, which were usually before finals week.

* * *

The solo interview week came and went. As they have heard, it was just like a job interview, but it wasn't really stressing like the defense. Now the end of the semester is fast approaching. Final deadlines and quizzes were just around the corner.

Megane's performance in math had drastically improved. His tutoring time with Tsubasa took shorter than before and he usually just needed him to explain the newer lessons. He also didn't cram his homeworks and projects anymore.

"Hi guys, it's our last meeting for the sem before the finals week, are your outputs ready?" Narumi said. "I am very excited to see the blueprints of your dream houses which were just a dream written on paper at the start of the semester."

They were asked to submit their outputs in front. When she and Tsubasa got to the front, Narumi took theirs and opened it. But instead of putting it down after scanning it, he faced it to the class.

"And look guys, our resident pair had drawn similar houses," it was true. They just had different styles but the overall feel was similar.

They looked at each other. They decided not to check on each other's work after the revelation of their similar dream house details. This was the first time they got to know of the other's work.

"We really are partners," Tsubasa said to her with a smile.

"I really hope you two would just get married, you know," Narumi teased them. "Okay class, that was the end of my lecture for you. I hope I was able to equip you with the proper skills for you to go on to your higher Architecture majors. Maybe I'd be seeing familiar faces next semester for 102, maybe not, but it really has been a pleasure teaching you guys. I can see lots of potentials coming from you guys, and I'd be really proud when in the near future I see your names at the list of licensed architects of the country. That is all, enjoy your summer vacation. After finals week."

The week after that was finals week, and just like usual, she and Tsubasa didn't go home for the weekends and instead spent the time reviewing.

At the last day of the finals week, SCA also released the list of accepted applicants.

"We all got in guys, I'm so happy," she said. They were outside the clubroom where the list was posted. The members were also there, congratulating them. "This is such a nice gift at the end of the semester."

"Hey, sophomores, Jinno had just posted our final grades in our online accounts!" every sophomore rushed to their laptops and gadgets to check their online accounts. Indeed, Jinno had already posted their grades.

"Guys, I, I passed," Megane was teary-eyed. "I got accepted into SCA and I passed Math."

They grouped hug on him. "I told you you'll make it, I'm glad you didn't give up," she said with a smile.

"We'll always be here for you, we won't ever let you give up," Tsubasa agreed.

"Well, I guess this calls for a celebration, let's all go for dinner together, it's our last bonding before we go our separate ways for vacation," Kaname suggested. They all agreed and they went to 11th street to eat at the famous pizza parlor.

"Hey guys, I'm really glad I met all of you this sem, thank you, and see you after the summer break," she said to them. She was the first person they took home.

"We're really happy to be friends with you, Misaki-san," Kaname said to her before giving her a friendly hug. The others did the same one by one, except for Tsubasa and Hayate. Hayate just gave her a nod and a smile, Tsubasa just placed his arm around her shoulders and tapped her.

"Oh, and Tsubasa, Hayate-kun, we're still going home at 9 AM tomorrow, don't you two dare be late."

* * *

Okay, this got delayed by a day because there was no electricity after a typhoon hit the country. Anyway, I spent the whole day yesterday writing so I still got to my personal deadline of finishing one chapter per week so the story's still safe. I'm trying to spend more time on this so that I may finish before my classes starts again, so I hope you all help me on that by giving me comments :) I hope you enjoy this chapter, see you next week! (I will go back to my original schedule next week: Wednesdays)


	6. Chapter 6

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

"_Guys, schedule__'__s out, let__'__s all choose the 2__nd__ block?__" _Tsubasa had made a group conversation online including her, Kaname, Nobara, Hayate, Megane, Anna, and Nonoko. "_And for heaven__'__s sake! Hayate, don__'__t choose the morning schedule.__"_

"_Yeah, guys, let__'__s all choose the 2__nd__ block, it__'__s the nicest schedule as always, not too early and not too late,__" _she agreed.

"_Can__'__t go with you guys, sorry, we__'__re choosing the morning schedule :(,__" _Nonoko replied.

"_Our club__'__s holding a big event for the next semester, we__'__re part of the team that__'__s handling that,__ we have to be in the meetings after class," _Anna continued.

"_Aw, but at least we have one subject together just like last sem,__" _she replied. She really wished that they can all be together, that would be so much fun.

"_Yeah, and we can have lunch together after ^^,__" _Anna replied.

"_Hi guys! I__'__m taking the 2__nd__ block too if you guys are taking that,__" _Nobara was on mobile. _"__And Hayate-kun, I agree with Tsubasa-kun, I think you suit the 2__nd__ or 3__rd__ block__'__s schedule :)__"_

"_That__'__s good, Nobara-chan. Don__'__t you have to attend your father__'__s lunch meetings, though?__" _Nonoko asked. The reason Nobara chose the night schedule last time was because she usually has to attend her father's lunch meetings with his business partners. _"__Hayate-kun, you heard that, it__'__s better for your health if you don__'__t take the morning schedule.__"_

"_He__ wants me to focus on my studies for now so he allowed me to do as I please :)," _Nobara replied.

"_Hey, what__'__s with all the talk about my sched?__" _just then, Hayate went online. _"__Oi, Tsubasa, soccer with our high school friends later.__"_

"_Dude, did you just wake up? There, that__'__s the reason we__'__re all picking on your sched, you have an upside down body clock, anyway, we__'__re all choosing __the__ 2__nd__ block, choose that too,__" _Tsubasa replied.

"_Wow, I was surprised when I logged in, 2__nd__ block looks okay with me too :D,__" _Megane was online too. _"__Hayate-kun, choose the 2__nd__ block, it__'__s going to be fun if we__'__re all in there, plus it suits you better than 1__st__ block. It__'__s sad that Anna-san and Nonoko-san can__'__t be with us, though.__"_

"Misaki-chan, time for dinner!"

"Coming, mom!" she closed the browser and went down to eat. When she came back and checked, the thread had been mostly boys talk until it was time for Tsubasa and Hayate's soccer game with their high school classmates. Kaname haven't replied, though, which kind of surprised them since he was mostly online since the start of the vacation. She decided to turn the computer off and just continue reading one of the books she bought to read during the vacation, which ended up still open beside her face when she woke up the following morning.

"_Hey guys, sorry I only got to check this right now, I__'__m cool with 2__nd__ block too ^_^,__" _Kaname had already replied when she went online again that morning. She checked the time and it was sent just half an hour ago.

"Had Kaname-kun always been a morning person?" she wondered. She woke up at 6:30, her usual time when she's at home. She decided to let it go and went on to eat breakfast.

The next time they met each other again was enrollment. As they had decided, they all took the 2nd block, except for Anna and Nonoko. They also made sure that they had the same sections for the smaller classes wherein each block is further divided.

"How did your summer go?" Kaname, as usual, was the most energetic among the group.

"You've been asking that online ever since vacation started, you're too clingy," Tsubasa complained. They were all eating at an ice cream shop at 11th street after enrollment.

"I'm your best friend, am I not?" Kaname jokingly grabbed Tsubasa's arm, who immediately took it back. They all laughed.

"By the way, how's SCA? What are your role allocations?" Anna asked.

"We still have to choose and submit our choices," she answered. "I'm thinking of going to Projects, what about you guys?"

"Hmnn, probably marketing or HR for me," Megane said. "Though since SCA doesn't take applications during the second semester, I might go to HR, less work."

"Should I go to Projects? What about you guys?" Kaname looked at Tsubasa and Nobara.

"I'll probably go to one of the corporate projects, even though that old pervert is that department's head," Tsubasa made a face.

"Projects or HR or Marketing for me, I guess," Nobara said. "I want to explore other areas so I might go for one of those. What about you Hayate-kun?"

"Dunno yet, probably HR or Marketing, less hassle than the others," Hayate answered as he took a spoonful of ice cream.

"Don't go to HR, we beg you, Hayate," Tsubasa's eyes grew. "I don't think you'll be a good 'motivator' for the members. Or even if you go to the more administrative work, the club might go in disarray because you're so unorganized. Go for Marketing if it's your other choice."

"Hey, our Apps' Night went well, didn't it?" Hayate retorted.

"Right, but what if Nobara-san wasn't there? We probably wouldn't have food," Tsubasa emphasized food, which Nobara had to pick up herself when they realized Hayate had given the wrong address for delivery.

"Give him a break, Tsubasa, he was able to get the venue at a discount after all," Megane said. Hayate stuck out his tongue at Tsubasa.

"See you guys tomorrow! Gosh, can't believe Narumi-sensei's also our professor in 102," they were already outside the store, going their separate ways.

"He probably remembers the two of you, be prepared," Anna said.

"But you did say his class was interesting, I'm excited to be in class tomorrow," Nobara said then smiled. They all tried to not to show any reaction when Kaname's mouth went agape and his eyes obviously lost. "There's my car, see you all tomorrow!"

Tsubasa gave a hard tap on Kaname's back. "Dude, she's gone now, wake up," they all laughed as Kaname shook his head to snap out of his trance.

"She's our friend, Kaname-kun, but if you really like her, you should tell her, can't regret anything that way," she said. "Anyway, I'm going now too. Hayate-kun, our class starts at 10 a.m. tomorrow, no more reason for you to be late. See you in class tomorrow!"

* * *

They all watched Misaki's retreating figure before turning back and started walking towards the university.

"Hey, Kaname, you really don't plan to tell her?" Tsubasa said. "Where did your Casanova skills go?"

"She's our friend, Tsubasa, how awkward would that be if she doesn't like me back and she wouldn't know how to tell me," Kaname said.

"So you're actually afraid that she doesn't like you," Hayate stated. Kaname's head went down. They all went silent as they went on. A little while later, Kaname suddenly stopped on his tracks, his hand holding his bowed head.

"Kaname-kun, are you alright?" Nonoko asked.

"Dude, are you that worried about Nobara-san?" he asked.

"Ah no," Kaname then raised his head and smiled. "I just forgot, my parents are here in the city, we're having dinner later, I have to go."

"You didn't mention that," he tried remembering if Kaname mentioned that since checking in at the dorm this morning.

"We're meeting for the first time since vacation, is "hey my parents are here" the first thing I'm gonna say to you? Anyway, I'm going now, they'd probably be calling me any minute now," Kaname then turned and went the other way. They all looked at Kaname's quickly retreating figure until he turned to a corner.

"He's not going to barge into Nobara-san's home, right?" he said as he turned back to the direction of the university, wondering about Kaname's quick escape.

"He did check in just this morning, he must have stayed with his parents last night or they probably took him here this morning themselves," Hayate said dismissingly. They all agreed that that must have been the case.

* * *

"Tsubasa, Hayate-kun, right here!" Misaki waved at the two as they went inside the classroom. It was Wednesday, the first class of the semester. They were using the same room as last semester in Narumi's 101 class. "Oh, where's Kaname-kun?"

The two settled into the seats beside her, Tsubasa choosing the one next to the aisle on her right, and Hayate on her left. Megane was seated in front of Hayate.

"He didn't come back to the dorms yesterday. He said he was meeting his parents who were here in the city. He probably stayed with them last night, since they might be going back to the North later," Tsubasa said.

"Good morning!" Nobara cheerfully greeted as she approached them. She took the seat beside Megane, which was in front of her.

"That makes the last seat for Kaname-kun," Megane said, talking about the last seat the two of them were able to reserve for them, the one beside Nobara and in front of Tsubasa. They all smiled knowingly, except for Nobara who didn't notice.

"Hey guys, did you submit your role choices already?" Nobara asked. "Deadline's tonight, then announcement of roles on Friday."

"Yeah, what did you guys go for? I went for both projects then external relations," she answered.

"I wrote both projects then external relations too," Tsubasa looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Fate," Megane stated. "I wrote down HR, marketing, then community projects."

"I chose both projects then marketing," Nobara said. They all looked at Hayate who was starting to get sleepy already. "Did you stay up late again, Hayate-kun? Have you submitted your role choices yet?"

"I went for external relations, marketing then finance," Hayate answered before yawning.

"I'm pretty sure they won't choose you for finance," Tsubasa said. "But that's weird, Kaname's not yet here, is he slacking off just because he's parents are here?"

"You're the slacker, Tsubasa, not Kaname-kun," she said, lightly knocking his head with her fist.

"At least I'm not a Casanova," Tsubasa retorted.

"Yeah right, said the playboy," she said, rolling her eyes at him then deliberately looking at her planner to show him she's not listening.

"Hey, since when was I a playboy? I don't even flirt with girls!" Tsubasa defended himself. Just then, a few girls approached them, newcomers to SCA just like them, but not their blockmates last semester.

"Hi guys, did you submit your role choices already? What did you choose, Tsubasa-kun?" they all asked them but it was obvious they were mostly interested in Tsubasa's choices.

"Projects then external relations," Tsubasa smiled at them. The girls almost melted.

"Hey, Tsubasa, remember, my hair gets pulled out, you die," she said when the girls went back to their seats.

"Good morning, class! This is Architecture 102, is that right?" Narumi then came in from the professor's entrance, wearing frilly clothes as he often did last semester. He placed his laptop on the desk then quickly scanned his audience. "I am seeing a lot of familiar faces and not so familiar ones. Oh, there it is, I see my resident couple is here too. Are you two married already?"

A round of teasing erupted. She and Tsubasa just laughed. They expected as much already. "We're glad to see you too, sensei."

Narumi chuckled before starting his session, which went pretty much the same as last semester. He gave them almost the same activity too, just that this time, he asked them to write about their ideal office building.

"I do hope you two don't write the same thing this time, though," Narumi said as they started writing.

"We're going to make it a pair this time, like twin towers," Tsubasa joked.

"No thanks," she said and moved closer to Hayate's side to hide her paper from Tsubasa.

Tsubasa was one of the first to submit, like before. Soon, all of them were outside the room already.

"Kaname-kun didn't come to class, after all," Nobara said as they went to the cafeteria to have lunch.

"Yeah, that's weird, did he text you?" she turned to Tsubasa.

"No, he didn't reply to my text either," Tsubasa said. "Let's see if he'll come to our classes later."

"Guys, over here!" Anna and Nonoko were already in the cafeteria and had reserved a big table for them. "How was your class? Oh, where's Kaname-kun?"

"Narumi's pretty much the same. Made us do the same thing too. It's an office building this time. Kaname's absent, dunno why," Tsubasa answered. They took their seats then looked over the counter. "They're serving tonkatsu today. I'm getting that."

"It was tonkatsu last semester too, remember that, Tsubasa?" she smiled as she remembered the first time they had lunch together. The two of them stood up and went to the line.

"Are you getting fish fillet this time too?" he asked as they looked at the choices.

"Nah, I want tonkatsu this time," she said. They took their orders and went back to the table. The others then went to order while they waited. They then ate together and chatted a bit before going to their next classes, all of them going to the same class except for Anna and Nonoko.

The following day, they had 122 for their first class, which was still taught by Kazu. Anna and Nonoko were on the same section too so they were all together.

"Kaname-kun, we didn't see you yesterday," Nonoko greeted when the two arrived. Tsubasa, Kaname, Hayate, and she were already there.

"My parents were here, we went out yesterday since they are going back today," Kaname smiled. He then turned to Tsubasa. "By the way, were there any requirements given yesterday?"

"Not much, but we're using new sets of textbooks," Tsubasa replied.

"Let's all wait until Friday before buying so that we know all the books we need," she said. They all agreed on that and told the same to Nobara and Megane who arrived later.

Kazu started lessons immediately. Pretty soon, Hayate was face flat on his desk, Kaname was playing with her notebook's bookmark, Nobara was trying to yawn discreetly, while Tsubasa and Megane were trying to play pranks on Hayate, with Anna and Nonoko watching and trying not to laugh out loud.

"Whew! So glad that's over!" Kaname said when they got out of the room. They tried to cover his mouth just in case Kazu heard him.

"Keep it down a little, will you," Tsubasa gave him a noogie. They headed to the cafeteria and had lunch there. Afterwards, they headed for their next class, which was PE, except for Anna and Nonoko who were done with that day's classes. "Ah, I want to change my shoes, I have a feeling my PE's gonna make us run today. You guys go ahead, I'm going back to the dorm."

"Can I leave my stuff with you, Tsubasa? So that I don't have to bring them all to the gym, we'll just get them when we go back for our next class," she asked. Tsubasa agreed and she went with him, the others went ahead to the gym.

"The volleyball courts are beside the basketball courts, right?" she asked. She was taking volleyball for PE this time and he was taking basketball.

"Yeah. Ahh, I'm excited for PE," he said as he stretched his arms upward. They reached the east boys dorm and he took her stuff while she stayed at the lobby where visitors can stay.

"Misaki-san?" she was fixing her ponytail when a guy arrived and carefully approached her, trying to get a view of her face. She looked up. He was her classmate during one of her general education subjects from freshman year. "It is you. Haven't seen you in a while, what are you doing here in the dorm?"

"I'm waiting for a friend. Wow, I forgot you're staying at the east boys dorm, Ryotaro-kun," she smiled at him. He was one of the people she was close with on that subject they were together during their first semester on freshman year. She sometimes saw him too after that but this was the first time they've seen each other during sophomore year. "How are you? How is it at the college of science?"

"I'm doing fine, pretty thick books and lots of experiments, what about you? How's architecture? I heard you got accepted into an org there," he sat beside her and put down his books on the floor.

"Yeah, it's fun. I got into SCA, it's a social entrepreneurship org for architecture students," they chatted until Tsubasa arrived. "Oh, he's here. Tsubasa, this is Ryotaro-kun, my classmate during freshman year. Ryotaro-kun, this is Tsubasa, the blockmate I told you about."

"You're on the 3rd floor, right? We fought you guys in soccer during last year's dorm sports fest," the two recognized each other. He then faced her. "Let's go."

"We're going now, it was nice seeing you again, Ryotaro-kun!" she waved at him before following Tsubasa out of the dorm. "I totally forgot he stays at the east boys dorm. Haven't seen him since freshman second semester."

"He's our batch mate, isn't he? I remember him from our first sports fest in the dorm, he played soccer," Tsubasa said. They reached the courts. "We're here, see you after class."

"Or we can just look over," she laughed before leaving him on the basketball court and heading for the volleyball court which was right next to it.

Since it was the first meeting, most PE classes didn't ask students to do activity yet and finished early, except for sports like basketball and volleyball which made them exercise and run already. As such, the others headed back early, like Kaname and Nobara who both took a dance PE, while the two of them, Tsubasa and her, were dismissed at regular class hours. They went back to the east boys dorm to retrieve their things that were left in Tsubasa's room then went to their next class which was in the Architecture building.

* * *

"This is what I like about the first week of classes, you come back to the campus whining about having classes already but next thing you know, it's time to go home again," he said the following day, Friday. "If we didn't have SCA assembly later, we could have gone home early today. Want to skip assembly, Misaki?"

"Tono-senpai is so going to kill you if he heard that," Misaki chuckled. "But you're right, first week of classes is so fast."

"I wonder if all of us got our first choices for the roles," Megane said.

"Let's hope for it. Whatever we get, let's just have fun, everyone," Nobara said, to which they all agreed.

Just like last semester too, their classes were only until 3 that day. SCA assembly wasn't until 6 pm so they decided to go to 11th street first to buy their books together and eat somewhere, going back to campus just in time for the assembly.

"Hello, SCA! Welcome to the first assembly of the semester, also the first SCA assembly ever for the new members. As I expected, we're quite high on attendance today, it's a good thing we got a classroom instead of having it on the clubroom," the Vice President for Human Resources said as he scanned the room. SCA was a big organization, and they easily filled a regular classroom in the college. "Well, I expect the number to decline during the next assemblies, but I do hope we will be able to maintain. Anyway, we have lots to announce tonight so let's begin this. To kick start this, we will first be announcing the role delegation of the members for this sem. I'm sure you're all excited, specially the new members."

The vice president started calling out the departments and their respective members and roles. Megane did get into HR, Hayate in external relations, and the four of them all in corporate projects.

"As I said, new members under my department won't be allocated yet into specific projects until the first department meeting, I will add you to the department group later," Tono said after he had called on all members and their respective roles in his department.

The assembly ended with dinner sponsored by the club officers. The following day, they met again at the train station at 9 am to go home.

"Ahh, first trip for the sem and you two are late already," Misaki lectured as she took the coffee from him.

"First trip for the sem and you're nagging us already," Hayate said. WHACK! "Hey, I bought the croissant this time."

"You should tell that before she whacks you," he patted Hayate who was rubbing his head which Misaki had just whacked.

The train arrived and they boarded that one. The following week, everything was back to work already. Classes were on normal schedule already and org meetings were being set too. By the third week of school, they went back to the campus expecting lessons to go full swing and their afternoons set with org meetings.

"Dude, wake up, we'll be late," a pillow thrown forcefully to his face woke him up. He opened his eyes and saw Kaname putting on clothes. "Geez, I already finished taking a bath and all yet you're still dozing."

"Yeah, I'm up, I'm up," he said as he rubbed his eyes and went to the shower stalls with his towel and toiletries kit in tow. The cold water immediately woke him up and he started taking his bath, until he heard commotions from outside.

Just then, a dormer went inside the bathroom and shouted for everyone taking a bath to hear. "The dorm is on fire!"

* * *

Hello! Sorry if it's not on schedule again, I got home pretty late yesterday so I didn't get the chance to upload this. I'm pretty excited about this chapter and the next one, I hope you like it. If you got to reading until this part, please do leave a review or comment for me, thank you! See you next week!

P.S. To those who reviewed, placed this in their favorites and/or alert list, thank you so much. To those who are quietly reading this, thank you so much too. I can keep on writing because of you all :)


	7. Chapter 7

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

"Oh my gosh, a fire broke out at the east boys' dorm!" Misaki's ears perked up immediately and looked at her classmates a few seats away from her, looking at their phones. She looked outside the windows and indeed, smoke was coming from the direction of the said dorm.

"Attention. A fire broke out at the east boys' dorm. We suggest every resident of the said dorm to go back and try to recover their things after the fire is put out. Professors, please excuse those students from your class," the announcement came and everyone was looking at the speakers. "We are arranging for temporary relocation to the north boys' dorm but residents who can find another place to stay for the meantime, please do so. Thank you."

"That's why Tsubasa-kun's late," Nobara said as most of the guys stood up and hurriedly went outside the room.

"Nah, he's really running late. That just became the reason for him not to attend class anymore," she said and waved her hand.

"We have quite a number of students in this class residing there," Narumi stopped writing on the board and faced them, more than half of the guys nowhere to be seen. "Looks like we won't be able to do the workshop today. I'm pretty sure most of you here are those guys' friends, go help them if you must, we'll do the workshop next meeting, I'll just send the instructions to your webmails."

She gathered her things and just as they went out of the room, her phone rang.

"Misaki-"

"Don't worry, Sensei cancelled the workshop today. We're heading over there, are you and Kaname-kun okay?" she cut him off.

"Yeah, we're fine, but our wing is currently inaccessible, we were able to gather some of our stuff though," he sounded like he was panting, probably from rushing to get out of the burning dorm. "I'll wait for you here."

"They're fine, but looks like they'll need some help, let's hurry," she told the others and they hurriedly went out of the building.

People and baggage were scattered outside the half-burnt dorm. Two fire trucks were also outside and firemen were coming in and out of the dorm. They saw Tsubasa and Kaname somewhere in the crowd and approached them.

"What the hell, Tsubasa, why are you naked?" Tsubasa was only wearing a towel wrapped around his waist and who knows what's underneath, if any.

"I was taking a bath when the fire broke out! They just told me to gather what I can and rush out of the building, what can I gather from the bathroom though?!" he said.

"Tsubasa, Kaname, we were able to get some of your stuff out," two guys who were carrying a few bags approached them.

"Thanks, dude," Tsubasa immediately reached for a shirt and shorts and changed right in front of them. He was wearing his boxers, apparently. "They're our roommates, by the way. Guys, these are our classmates."

"Hi," the guys waved at them then faced Tsubasa and Kaname again. "Our room's fine, but it was pretty hard to get out. Those firemen broke our windows to allow us to get out faster."

"Yeah, we couldn't get your plates though, we just stuffed them underneath the beds, the fire doesn't seem like it'll spread anyway. We got your laptops in there though. They said they'll allow us to gather our stuff later when it dies down."

Kaname pulled out his laptop to check for damages and then put it back in.

"So what happened really?" she asked.

"A chemistry dude's experiment went wrong and the fire broke out," Tsubasa said. "Now, next problem, what do we do now?"

"Yeah, they said we can relocate temporarily in the north dorm but that can accommodate only a few people," Kaname said. "I can stay at my cousin's place and just commute to here though. I'd invite you, Tsubasa, but then it's not mine and my cousin's place is a bit small."

"What about you, Hayate-kun?" they all looked at Hayate who doesn't seem fazed at all by all that's happened.

"I've got an option but I'm not sure if I'd go there, I'll think of it later," he said and yawned.

"I don't really want to stay at the north dorm and squeeze with the people there and I don't really know anyone from there who'll allow me to stay at his room," Tsubasa said and looked up to think. "Ah, this is going to be a problem. My whole family lives in the countryside so I have no one to stay with here in the city."

They all stopped to think.

"Uhm, I live in my own apartment so I guess you can stay with me?" she was the first one to speak again. They all looked at her incredulously and she just shrugged her shoulders. "What? It's the most realistic thing I can think of right now. Most of your close friends are also from this dorm so I guess I'm the only one you can go to."

"Misaki-chan, he's a guy, if you have forgotten?" Nobara snapped her finger in front of her face.

"Yeah, I know, what about it?" she rolled her eyes. She then tapped Tsubasa's forehead with her finger. "I know this guy too much now for anything weird to happen. Unless you're having different thoughts, Tsubasa."

"I'm straight, Misaki, I assure you," WHACK! "Anyway, she's right, looks like I'll be staying at Misaki's place for a while."

"Attention to all residents, in an hour, we'll be allowing you to go back to your rooms and gather what you can. Please have your lunch in the cafeterias for now while the firemen make sure of the accessible ways inside the dorm. In light of this accident, all classes are suspended for the day. Thank you," the head of the dorm announced through a megaphone.

"Let's go eat at the cafeteria in the Architecture building, I'm starving," Tsubasa grabbed his bags and they all trooped to the nearby building. "Hey, Misaki, can you wait for me to gather my stuff and then we go to your apartment?"

"Yeah, sure," she said as they placed down their trays. "I'll help you get your stuff. Oh, and get your plates too, sensei said we'd still push through with workshop next meeting."

* * *

"Well, here we are," she said as she opened the door. She placed Tsubasa's stuff on the floor and hers too. "Gosh, it feels like you're moving in."

It was a neatly kept studio-type apartment. Everything was there, a small sofa and a couch, a bed, a desk on the side, a small kitchen, a breakfast table, and a door leading to the bathroom.

"Nice place," Tsubasa said as he sat down on the couch.

"Thanks," she smiled. "Now, first things first, let's make some space for you. Move the couch beside the desk and you can place your stuff there. We'll place your futon next to the bed, are you okay with that? Well, that's the only space we have."

"Yeah, I'd be okay with sleeping on the bed too," WHACK! "I can share-" WHACK!

"Let's not forget that we're friends, shall we, Tsubasa?" she turned around and tied her hair as she looked at her fridge. "Go take a bath if you want, I'll cook our dinner."

She took out the chicken and raised her head only to see Tsubasa taking his shirt off. "Tsubasa! Go take off your clothes inside the bathroom, no wonder you were naked earlier."

"Sorry, got used to running around the dorm like this," he took his towel and walked towards the bathroom.

"Wait, I forgot about the laundry," Misaki ran to the bathroom before Tsubasa can even reach it. Her laundry bin has two baskets, one for whites and the other for colored clothes. She placed the colored clothes on the first basket. "You can use the other basket for now. And don't even dare place your clothes in my basket, got it?"

She went back outside and started cooking. A little while later, she heard the shower stop running.

"Misaki! I forgot to take my clothes! Can you get them for me?" Tsubasa shouted from inside the bathroom.

"Even your undergarments?! No way I'm touching those!" her eyes almost popped.

"They're just clothes, Misaki, c'mon! Or would you rather I get out of here half naked?" the door clicked open and a hand reached out.

"Just go out and wrap yourself with a towel, I'm cooking, I can't get away from this," she said as she flipped the pan. "I'm not going to look so just get out of there."

Tsubasa did get out with only a towel wrapped around his waist. She couldn't take away her eyes from the pan she was holding until droplets of water caught the corner of her eye.

"Tsubasa! Why'd you go out without drying yourself? Water's all over the floor!" she raised her head to see him putting on his shirt. She immediately turned her head back to the pan. "Go change inside the bathroom!"

Tsubasa scratched his head and went inside the bathroom again. He went out just as she finished cooking.

"Dinner's ready," she announced as she placed the casserole on the table.

"Smells good, Misaki," he said, while drying his hair with a towel.

Dinner was pretty much peaceful, aside from a few comments from Tsubasa that earned him the same number of whacks from her.

* * *

"So, how was the first night?" Kaname loudly asked, before they even got to their seats.

"Is that why you're early today?" he said as he fist-bumped with Kaname.

"I'm always earlier than you anyway, but it is a surprise you're early today," Kaname laughed.

"She rolled me out of the futon when I asked for 5 minutes! 5 minutes, can you believe that?" he said with eyes wide open.

"We would have been late if I didn't!" Misaki shot back.

"By the way, guys, did you do the task for Projects? It's due today," Nobara asked.

"Shoot! I forgot! Tsubasa, I told you to remind me about that!" Misaki glared at him.

"I also forgot! I haven't done it either," he said as he rummaged through his bag. "Misaki, are my drawing pens still with you?"

"No, I placed it on the desk, I told you last night," Misaki answered. She started working on the submission she forgot to do.

"I didn't hear you, you should have put it in my bag or my pen case," he started digging through her bag for her pen case.

"They're fighting again." "And it's still early morning." Everyone sweatdropped.

Misaki and he kept on working on the task while waiting for the class to start.

"But they work so well, together, don't they?" They weren't even looking at each other but they knew just where to grab when they needed a pen, pencil, eraser, or ruler that was with the other.

"Misaki, the lines on top aren't aligned," he said with the eraser on his hand, without even looking at Misaki.

"Thanks," Misaki took the eraser and redid the misaligned lines. "Ah, Tsubasa, remind me that we have to stop by the mart later. I'll have to shop for our food."

"Okay, but you go ahead, we're having a soccer game later. Get me a pack of shaving cream, by the way, I left mine at the dorm's bathroom," he said.

"Are you getting back by dinner?" she asked, eyes still focused on her work. He nodded. "Okay, what do you want for dinner?"

"You guys are so like a married couple," Nonoko said as she giggled.

Kazu arrived and everyone went to their seats. He saw him first while Misaki was still fixated on her drawing.

"Kazu's here," he whispered to her. Misaki raised her head and started fixing her things when she saw Kazu. He had already taken out her notebook and placed it on her desk as soon as she lifted her drawing paper to keep in her bag.

The usual happened in Kazu's class. Hayate was face flat on the table, Kaname and Megane were playing pranks on him, while he insisted on doodling on Misaki's notebook as she wrote down notes.

"Stop that," she hissed.

"_Don__'__t you ever get bored of him?__" _he wrote on the page.

"_I do, that__'__s why I__'__m diligently taking down notes, now stop writing on my notes,__" _she wrote underneath. "_What do you want for dinner by the way?__"_

"Very old-fashioned, you guys," Kaname whispered. "Who passes on notes at this age? I want mushroom soup, by the way. It's a pity I can't join you guys."

"You're not really invited, though," he joked. Misaki glared at the two of them and motioned them to be quiet. "Let's have mushroom soup later, though."

"Mushroom soup it is, now be quiet, he's starting to notice of us," Misaki said and went back to her notes.

"Ah, by the way, I might not make it to the game later," Kaname said in a low voice. "My aunt's coming over to visit me and my cousin, they're asking me to come home early."

"That sucks, it's our first game in a while," he said. "I heard we might get to play with guys from another university."

"Just to remind you guys, I am right here in the middle," Misaki said, a vein popping on her head. "And keep it down, I said."

"Eh? I thought we're playing against the guys from the west dorms?" Kaname replied anyway.

They continued the conversation, with Misaki butting in to tell them to keep quiet, restraining herself from whacking both of them. When they got out of the room though, she did whack the two of them.

"Oi, Tsubasa, Kaname where are you going?" Hayate stopped them that afternoon after their last class. "We're playing, remember?"

"Kaname's not joining us, I'll be there, I'll just see Misaki off," he said then took Misaki's gym bag and started walking, Misaki and Kaname following suit. "Still a pity you can't join us, dude."

"Yeah, but it's also a pity you can't join Misaki-san in shopping, you could have helped her carry those stuff home," Kaname said.

"This woman's stronger than a cow, she can handle that." WHACK! "See that?" WHACK! "I'm carrying your bag to the gates at least, aren't I?"

They reached the gates and he gave her the gym bag. "Anyway, text me when you get home, I'll be there before dinner."

"As Narumi-sensei said, just get married, you two," Kaname said. This time he whacked him.

"Just go," he said to him. He watched the two walk before heading back to the fields. The soccer team of the university was not using the fields so they were able to use it that afternoon. They, residents of the east dorms, played against the west dorm residents. As the other guys said, guys from another university near them came to play a friendly game against them.

"Well played, Andou," his teammates hi-fived him. They won the game against the outsiders.

"They're asking for another game, do we use the same line up?" another teammate, from the west dorms, approached them.

"I'm not playing, I have to go home, I told Misaki I'm getting back before dinner," he said. It was already past 6.

"And you say she's not your girlfriend. Can't really believe a guy staying over at a girl's place is not her boyfriend," the other guys laughed.

"Just win the game, got it?" he said while changing his shirt. He then waved goodbye to everyone and headed outside. Misaki's place was at a walking distance from the campus and he was able to get there in a short time, but that was probably because he was already hungry and wanted to hurry home.

"You're just in time, I just finished cooking a few minutes ago," Misaki was reading when he got inside the apartment. She got up from the table to take the dish from the stove.

He placed his gym bag at a side and helped her by taking out the plates and utensils.

"Tastes good. So much better than the food at the dorm. Can I just stay here permanently?" he joked.

"And endure your unorganized lifestyle? No thanks even if you pay rent," she replied then pointed at the sofa. "Can you see all those stuff there? They're all yours! I always thought you were a neat guy since you were really organized in your work, but I guess that's why they say you never truly get to know a person unless you live under the same roof as him."

"You make me sound so bad, Hayate is worse you know. Falls asleep while playing a game, wakes up in the same state, never fixes his bed," he defended himself.

"Why bring up Hayate-kun here? Anyway, I know you have to redo your plates for tomorrow, I'll do the dishes today," he helped her clear up the table and let her do the dishes alone while he went to the bathroom to take a shower. She was already done when he got out and was working on her plates. He took out his work materials too and started working on his.

Misaki was only doing finishing touches on hers while he was only halfway done. Luckily, he still remembered clearly what he initially did so he was working fast. It was already 10 when Misaki decided to call it a night. "I'm sleeping ahead, is that alright?" He nodded. Misaki went to her bed and pretty soon he felt her already asleep.

He didn't bother checking the time as he worked, nor when he decided to call it a night too. All he knew was that it took hours before he was done with his work and got to sleep. The next thing he knew, though, was that he was waking to a noisy sound. His eyes went open slowly but not fully to see Misaki's silhouette cooking at the kitchen area.

His eyes were already fully open and the surroundings had registered to his mind but he stayed still, just looking at Misaki who was frying something for their breakfast. He was seeing her side-view, an apron over her clothes last night, her hair held up by a clamp, and a look of concentration over what she was doing.

It wasn't a just-woke-up semi-consciousness. Right then, one thing ran in his mind, _Misaki is actually pretty._

She must have felt someone staring at her because she looked at him and saw him already awake. "Oh, you're awake. Sorry did I wake you? I haven't taken a bath yet so you can still sleep a few minutes more. I know you're really tired." She smiled at him.

"Nah, it's okay," he got up and fixed his bed before going over to the table. "What's for breakfast?"

"Pancakes! I made lots of them because I know you'll eat so much," she was beaming as she presented the plate with a stack of pancakes. Then she took the pot from her coffee maker and poured two mugs. "And I already prepared the coffee. Let's eat."

They ate peacefully as if they've been doing this for a long time. "I like this." He suddenly spoke.

"They're just pancakes, and I just used a pancake mix," she replied. He just smiled at her and continued eating.

"I'll do the dishes this morning while you take a bath first," he said as they finished eating. She agreed and went to the bathroom with her clothes while he started cleaning up. He then took a bath when Misaki was done and they went to school right after.

The week went on like that. Pretty soon, it was the end of the week and they went home to Shizuoka together.

"It's so weird, by next week I'm moving back to the dorms," he said when they got to the train station. "I'm used to your cooking already. I am so going to miss that."

"Yeah, it feels so weird, I think I kind of got used to your messiness too, but it's really nice having someone with me in that apartment," she smiled at him. _I__'__m going to miss seeing that smile first thing in the morning too, _he thought. Ever since that morning, he found his day brightened just by seeing her cooking whenever he awoke, then she'd smile at him when she realized that he was already awake.

* * *

The dorm was already done being restored by the weekend. The residents were allowed to move back in Monday the following week. Because of that, both Misaki and Tsubasa went back early to get the latter's things left in former's apartment.

"Hey, thank you so much for letting me stay in your apartment for a week, and for helping me move back," he said to her.

"Well, I had to come back early anyway for you to get your stuff, might as well help you," she said as they neared the rebuilt east boys' dorm. "Ooh, it seems they renovated it too, the lobby looks neater."

"Yeah, put that down first, I'll just take these to my room then I'll come back for that.," he said to her before leaving her in the lobby. The lobby was bustling. Since it was the first day to move back, some parents and friends of the residents were there to help them.

"Misaki-san! You're here!" it was Ryotaro, who was holding lots of stuff too.

"Ryotaro-kun, hi, I came to help my friend move back," she smiled at him. "Right, I forgot to ask, where did you stay?"

"I stayed with a classmate who lives near here," just then, Tsubasa came back to get his other baggage that was with her.

"I just remembered, I think I forgot my phone charger in your apartment, can you just bring that tomorrow?" he took a sip from the coffee she was holding before picking up the bags. "This is the last one then we can go to class."

He nodded at Ryotaro before setting off again.

"Don't tell me he stayed with you?" Ryotaro uneasily asked her. She gave a light laugh before nodding.

"Yeah, he did. I'm the closest friend he got whom he can stay with," she explained. Ryotaro seemed to breathe freely after that.

"Was that okay? I mean, he's still a guy," he asked.

"Well, he was pretty messy, but it didn't really matter if he was a guy, we've been practically together everyday ever since we started taking up majors, we're used to each other already," she said. They chatted for a few more minutes until Tsubasa came back and they left for the Architecture building.

"Good morning! Did you move back already, Tsubasa?" Megane was already in the classroom when they got there.

"Yeah, but Kaname's not yet there. Class will start in 15 minutes, though," Tsubasa looked at his watch. Time went by as the classroom started filling up with students. The period started and ended but Kaname still hasn't arrived.

It was the following day when they saw Kaname again, who was twice as lively as if to make up for his absence yesterday.

"Gosh, Kaname-kun, I haven't even reached the doors but I can already hear you," she said when she got to the classroom. "It's so obvious when you're absent, the world gets noticeably quieter."

"Didn't you miss my presence yesterday, Misaki-san?" he dramatically placed his hands on his chest then laughed. "By the way, our dorm is holding an open-house celebration for its restoration. You think it's alright for me to ask Nobara-san to come?"

"Good morning! It's good to see that you're present today, Kaname-kun," Nobara then arrived, taking her seat between her and Kaname.

"Ah, Nobara-san, our dorm is holding an open-house celebration for its restoration on Friday at 6 pm, want to come?" Kaname asked her quickly until he realized what he just did. His hand immediately went to his mouth. They all grinned.

"I can't. I'm attending a formal dinner with my father," Nobara said with an apologetic smile. They all wanted to crack up when they saw Kaname's face fall. He was still going to say something but Kazu arrived and they went back to their seats. Kaname never got the chance and courage to bring up the topic again.

It was Thursday. After lunch, as always, she and Tsubasa dropped by the east boys' dorm for Tsubasa to change his clothes and to leave some of her stuff. She was waiting at the lobby when Ryotaro came in.

"Let me guess, you're waiting for Andou-kun with whom you left your stuff with?" he said when he saw her. They both laughed. "Ahh, that's right, Misaki-san, we're holding an open-house party tomorrow at 6 pm for the restoration of the dorm. Is it alright if I ask you to come with me? If you're not doing anything that day."

"Hmnn, my meeting ends at 6:30 so yeah, I guess I'm free afterward," she smiled. Tsubasa then came and they went off to PE.

"Hey, did you receive the text from the old geezer? The department's having an emergency meeting tomorrow at 3, it's about next month's event," he said as they walked. "Isn't your team having a meeting tomorrow too?"

She checked her phone, indeed, there was a text from Tono and another from the project leader of the team she belonged to. "We're cancelling our meeting tomorrow for the department meeting. Next month's event is for Project Pillars, right? Seems there's a problem, wonder what it is."

They reached the courts and went to their respective classes. Tsubasa's classes ended earlier than hers and she saw him waiting for her by the exit when her class finished.

"Hey, our professor said our class gets free passes to the next volleyball game of the team, and we get a service too," she excitedly told him. The volleyball professor is also the coach of the university's team.

"Your prof's so cool! Kaname and I were planning to go too. Damn, free passes and a ride, you're so lucky," even when they got to their next class and met up with the others, they were still talking about the volleyball game that she forgot to tell them she's going to the east boys dorm's party.

The problem of SCA's Project Pillars became their topic the following day. Tono had briefed them online about what will happen later at the department meeting.

"Hello everyone, I'm glad we're able to get a complete attendance today," Tono greeted them that afternoon. "I know that Lighthouse was supposed to have a meeting today, I'm sorry that you have to cancel that for this. Anyway, as I've stated last night, Pillars encountered a problem with the client of next month's event, which is the contest proper. This will be explained by their leader, Saki-chan."

The Pillars members were seated together. Saki, a junior, stood up and faced them. She explained the problem, which was the client raising its expectations in contest participation way above what had been the projected participation rate. They were all asked to vote whether to follow or cancel the agreement with the sponsor. They were also asked to help despite being assigned to different projects.

The meeting ended but the team leader of Lighthouse, the project she and Nobara was part of, asked for a short meeting with the team. Tsubasa and Kaname left them to go back to the dorms.

"Misaki, are you going home now?" Nobara asked her when it ended. "Want to go with me? I'll drop you off."

"It's okay, I'm going to the east boys dorm's party, Ryotaro-kun, a former classmate, invited me," she smiled. "Ah, that reminds me, he's probably waiting for me, I'll go now, see you next week, Nobara!"

She hurried to the east boys dorm where Ryotaro was waiting for her.

"Wow, I didn't expect it to be a real party," the whole dorm was decorated, the yard was turned into a party hall, and there were lots of people coming in and out of the hallways.

"Ah, that's right, since it's an open house, we're allowed to bring visitors to our rooms, want to see mine? Some of our former classmates are here too," she agreed and they went to his room. As he said, they met some of their former classmates along the way who were either residents or were guests of residents. "So this is my room. And he's my roommate. The other two are going around with their guests. Know what? All four of us roommates are from the college of science, it was a coincidence."

Only one of his roommates was there, who was with a few friends. The room was neatly kept, especially Ryotaro's side of the room.

"You didn't tell me you're bringing a girl. Is she your girlfriend?" his roommate asked. They both blushed.

"No she isn't. She's my friend, a classmate during freshman year," he answered then faced her. "Do you want to stay here or do you want to roam around the dorms?"

"Ah, that's right, you remember Tsubasa, don't you? Do you know where his room is? And also Hayate-kun's!" he agreed and they went downstairs to the second floor where Tsubasa and Kaname's room was. They were just nearing their door when they met the two who were also going back.

"Misaki? What are you doing here?" Tsubasa's eyes widened, surprised to see her here. Then he saw Ryotaro beside her. "Oh, did he invite you?"

"Yeah, didn't I tell you?" she stopped to think and then realized that she had forgotten to tell him. "Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you. So can I see your room? Though I have a feeling how it looks like."

Tsubasa still cannot get over his shock. It was Kaname who went forward and opened the door for them. "Yeah, sure, our roommates are outside anyway so it's not cramped inside. Welcome!"

One look at the room and she knew already which was Tsubasa's side and which was Kaname's side. One side of the room was pretty messy, with an obvious effort to clean it up a bit, architecture plates hastily stacked on the desk, bags thrown under it. Meanwhile, the side directly across it was the exact opposite. The desks of the two persons served as the division. While Tsubasa's desk was messy, the other desk was organized, with pens on a penholder and a laptop neatly placed on top of the desk. Despite the lack of plates stacked on top of the desk, she knew immediately that it was Kaname's because of the t-square and other tools of an architect strategically placed on the side of the desk for easy access whenever he's working. And also, a guitar bag stood by the foot of the bed, while on Tsubasa's bed, a soccer ball and a jersey can be seen from underneath the bed.

"Oh gosh, Tsubasa, you do realize that the whole dorm's open for the guests to see, don't you?" she said.

"Well, I didn't expect any guest today and neither did you tell me that you were going here. We were together the entire time and you didn't even tell me," he said to her, a bit annoyed.

"I told you I forgot. And I didn't really have the chance," she said. She then faced Ryotaro. "I want to see Hayate-kun's room next, let's go? Do you guys want to join us?"

"I think we'll stay here, Misaki-san, enjoy the party," Kaname said with a smile. The two of them bade goodbye to them and went on to Hayate's room which was in the first floor.

"Andou-kun looked a little annoyed, will you be okay?" he asked him when they were out of the room.

"Yeah, it probably just came as a shock to him. I totally forgot to tell him I was going here," she said. They reached Hayate's room but he wasn't there. His roommates told them he was pigging out at the buffet table at the yard. They decided to proceed to the yard too.

Ryotaro found them a table and left her there to get food for both of them. Kaname and Tsubasa had also decided to come down to the party and that's where they saw her.

"Seriously, why didn't you tell me you were going here?" he asked her again.

"What is your problem, Tsubasa? Look, he just asked me yesterday, okay? I forgot to tell you because we received that text from Tono-senpai, and then there was that news about me getting a free pass for the volleyball game, and then there was the Project Pillars problem. After all that, don't you think it would have slipped from my mind? What, do I need to tell you everything I'm doing?" she was starting to get pissed off too.

Tsubasa was still going to say something but they saw Ryotaro approaching. Tsubasa and Kaname decided to go and get their own food. She didn't get another chance to talk to Tsubasa nor Kaname that night. Some of Ryotaro's friends came to sit with them and afterwards, Ryotaro walked her home.

"Thanks for coming to the party with me tonight, Misaki-san," he told her when they reached her apartment building.

"It's okay, I had fun too, though I'm sorry if my mood was ruined later on, I just got annoyed with Tsubasa," she said. "And thanks for walking me home too."

"Ah, Misaki-san," he had just turned away when he turned back to her.

"Hmnn?" she turned around to face him.

"Would you like to, uhm, go out on a date with me?"

* * *

I can't believe I really went ahead with this idea, both the staying over thing and the party thing haha. This is honestly one of the chapters I really enjoyed writing, one of those I wrote down first too. I was hoping I could have done it more justice though, if only I was better at descriptive writing. Anyway, here is the seventh chapter, I hope you enjoyed reading it. I use Chrome for my browser but I was having problems uploading a document so I had to use Mozilla instead. That distorted some of the formatting of the story. I already edited them but there may be some that I overlooked, I apologize for that. As for my progress in the story, since my classes are finally starting soon, I'm trying to speed up, hopefully I don't get busy immediately and be able to finish the whole story soon so that I don't run the risk of not being able to update. To those who reviewed, followed, favorited, and read this, thank you so much. See you next week!


	8. Chapter 8

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

A/N: A few announcements: I will be moving my Fanfiction day from Wednesdays to **Saturdays** because my classes are gonna start soon which means no stable internet for me except on weekends during which I go back home (now you know where I got Misaki's situation from XD). That means my next update will be next week Saturday, not this week Saturday. Next is that I might edit most of the earlier published chapters because I noticed I was inconsistent with the use of honorifics. Honorifics play an important role for me in this story because they show the relationship of the characters. That's all, on to the chapter, hope you enjoy it.

* * *

"Man, why are you so annoyed?" Kaname asked him. They were just at a side of the dorm's yard, watching the party go on.

"I'm just really irritated that Misaki didn't tell me or at least you that she's going here. I mean, there's Hayate, you and me living here, we're all practically together for an entire day and she didn't tell us. Don't you think it's more normal for us to be the first ones to know that she's going here?" he said as he downed his drink in one shot.

"Well, she was asked by someone else and come to think of it, no one among us thought of inviting them," Kaname replied. "Tsubasa, dorm open houses like this usually calls for bringing dates rather than friends. Misaki-san doesn't have to tell you if she's going to a date, don't you think?"

He just nodded in return. "Anyway, dude, I don't want to stay. I'm going back," he had just turned around when a few girls, residents of the east girls dorm, approached them.

"Andou-kun, Sono-kun, would you like to dance with us?"

"Sorry, I'm not in the mood," he didn't even turn around to face them.

"I apologize for his behavior, he's kind of having a bad day," he heard Kaname say to them before following him. "Dude, that was so not you. You really lose your cool when you're irritated, you know."

"Why didn't you stay? You don't have to go back with me," he said to him.

"I'm not in the mood either," Kaname just said. He placed an arm on his shoulders. "Want to play? Everyone's partying, the internet speed would be on max. Let's tell Hayate."

They decided to do that and dropped by Hayate's room where they saw him in front of his laptop, playing.

"Good idea, it's getting boring finishing the campaign game several times," Hayate definitely is a game master.

They went back to their room and faced their laptops. As they had expected, the internet of the dorm was on max speed.

* * *

Misaki wasn't a naïve girl. But she was inexperienced when it came to dating, or anything romantic in general. Nor did she not care about it. She was simply indifferent to it. She knew she was pretty, but she was never the prettiest, the one every guy in class has a crush on. She has had a few suitors, but she was still surprised every time a confession came up. _Guess that__ still holds true,_ she thought with her hand over her chest.

She was leaning on her door, having just entered her apartment. Ryotaro's invite has taken her by surprise. She was still in high school when she last received a confession of any sort. When she came to college, she kept mostly to herself and a small circle of friends and never had anyone liking her, or at least not that she knew of.

It was the ringing of her phone that calmed her down. It was her mom.

"Hello, mom? Yeah, I'm going back tomorrow morning. I'm leaving at 9 as usual. Tsubasa? Yeah, he's going home with me, probably the other one, Hayate-kun too. Okay, mom, love you too, see you, bye," she had already ended the call when she realized what she had just said. Now that she thought about it, this was the first time she and Tsubasa had actually fought or seriously argued.

Tsubasa looked seriously annoyed earlier and she didn't say goodbye to him or Kaname when Ryotaro took her home.

She looked at her phone. No message whatsoever from him. "I don't get what his problem was though. Oh well, he'll be there if he'll be there," she said to herself and threw her phone on her bed and decided to just have a quick shower.

She woke up the following morning still with no message of any sort from Tsubasa. She decided to go to the station and go home whether or not Tsubasa meets her.

She was almost near the last turn before she reaches station when she suddenly felt the urge to have coffee. She could go straight instead of turning and drop by her favorite coffee shop first before going on to the station. She had gotten used to Tsubasa giving her coffee every time they go home that she didn't have coffee during breakfast. She looked at her watch. She would probably lose around 10 to 15 minutes depending on whether she takes out or not. She was already at the last turn. She looked at the station, then in front where she could barely see the café, then back to the station. She decided to go to the station already.

She went straight to the ticket booth. She was almost near it when a ticket was extended in front of her. She looked up to see Tsubasa looking away. She took the ticket and they just stood there, until the warning bell rang and a voiceover announced that the next train was arriving shortly. They decided to enter the platform but they still weren't talking.

Tsubasa then extended her coffee to her and also a brown bag that she knew contained her favorite croissant. "Sorry. For yesterday," he muttered, his words barely audible. She took the food and smiled at him. That's when they heard the train arriving.

"Let's go," she said to him with a smile. They found their seats inside and started eating the food he brought and talking about the Pillars project. Neither of them mentioned the open house party of the east boys' dorm. "Where's Hayate-kun, by the way?"

"Totally knock out. The internet was on max speed last night, a tournament inside the dorm happened. Kaname and I slept when we finally lost a game, but apparently, Hayate won," he laughed upon remembering how more and more people joined him, Kaname, and Hayate in the game and quickly established a tournament inside the dorm. "Hey, do you have an idea for Pillars already? I thought of a few but I'm not confident in them."

"Oh, I forgot about that. We need to come up with an idea to present on Monday's meeting," the person in charge for publicity for Pillars had to back out when it became decided that next month's contest will have to be a large-scale event. Since all old members in the department were allocated to lead roles already, Tono had to choose from the new members and decided to get two as replacement. New members assigned to the projects departments were normally given staff positions only since projects were the operations departments of SCA, as such, lead roles are given to members who already had experience in a project. To make up for this rule, Tono took the two of them to help each other out.

"Let's try to brainstorm right now, and then continue this later through chat," he said and they started brainstorming on the strategy they had to take for marketing the project.

* * *

"Misaki, I thought about this a while ago, why don't we put up standees in front of the building and in different universities too? Possibly partner up with architecture orgs in other universities? Since we're revamping the whole publicity design anyway," he said on Monday as they were going to the cafeteria.

"I thought we're already set with what we talked about yesterday? Anyway, isn't that going to take too much budget? And do we still have enough time? Remember that the contest is on the 3rd week of November already," she said to him as they placed their things on their chair and went to the line.

"Is this about Pillars? That's the project you guys are handling, right? Man, I don't know if I'd call you two lucky for getting a project early or not," Megane said, who was right behind them.

"It's a tough job, but at least there's two of us," he smiled at him before turning back to Misaki. "I was thinking about the time too, but we need to do some heavy publicity here if we want to reach the target set by the sponsor. I don't think the SNS promotions are going to be enough for this. I have a concept for the design already, I can make the outline for the presentation later. If this gets approved we just need to find a fast printing press and make the necessary deals immediately. The Marketing department can probably help us there."

"I agree with the SNS not being enough, but I'm still not confident we'd be able to make it by at least next week. We might still not get enough participants and the use of the resources will just be wasted," Misaki said with a worried face as she left him after paying for her meal to get their utensils.

"Ah, please give me two of the strawberry cheesecakes too," he said when it was his turn to pay. He quickly caught up to her before she reached their table.

"About the deal with other architecture orgs in other universities, do you think external relations can handle that? I know they're loaded right now," Misaki continued as they took their seats.

"Seriously, are you sure you two just met and became friends last semester? I feel like you're some robotic twins or something," Hayate said while the others just smiled. They stopped and looked at them. He pointed at their plates. "That 'I don't have to ask that you want dessert and I already got your spoon and fork' thing."

They both looked down. He realized his hands were in the process of getting the spoon and fork from Misaki's tray while she was about to open the cheesecake plastic box.

"Not to mention you're doing that without noticing because you're talking," he continued. "By the way, External Relations IS busy. If you're planning to request for that, you better have a talk with Hajime fast."

"And you're surprisingly in External Relations," he said to him as he continued taking the spoon and fork and started eating. They all laughed at that. A little while later when he finished eating, he started working on the posters and tarpaulin design they planned to present later at the meeting.

"Try a different color scheme, Marketing department might kill us if it's too loud," she said as he worked, pointing out things on his laptop screen.

"What about this one?" he said as he leaned back on his chair to give her full view of the screen.

"Hmnn, much better, but I think we have to make this part bigger so that it can be seen clearly," he put the cake back on the table and his hands went back to the laptop to do what she said. Misaki then gave him his glass of water. "Gosh, where's Kaname-kun when you need him?"

"They're doing that again!" Hayate pointed out with eyes wide.

"They've been like that since the start anyway, Hayate-kun," Nobara laughed.

"What is so wrong with her passing me a glass of water since she's making me work anyway?" he said. "But yeah, that Kaname, absent again. Wonder what's up this time? Anyway it's almost time, we better get going."

They all went up and went to their next class. Luckily for them, they just had a lecture so he was able to continue making the outline for the posters he wanted to propose later. Misaki pointed out some things as she listened to the lecture, sometimes even taking his place to type in some statements.

By the end of their last class for the day, the two of them were already done with the necessary preparations for the project team meeting.

"I think your team's complete, Saki-chan, let's start," Tono said when they arrived. The whole team was there, including the staff, and people from other concerned departments, such as their Project Finance Head, and Toki, the vice president for Marketing, also Kaname's former mentor.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I know we have a lot to talk about this afternoon so let's start this. Hiro-kun, please start taking notes," Saki nodded to a guy, a freshman, who was a staff under the Programs function. She made a quick recap of last time's meeting before asking each function head to make their updates. "Okay, Publicity, Andou-kun and Harada-san, our newcomers, it's your time. Logistics, please take note of possible adjustments to your plan."

"First of all, hi," Misaki greeted while he connected his laptop to the projector. "Please forgive us if we're awkward right now, we didn't really expect to head something right away. Anyway, we have carefully thought of the publicity issue of the project over the weekend, and given the time constraint the project is currently facing, we realized that to achieve the higher participant target, we need to revamp the whole publicity plan of the project."

"Excluding this week, we have 3 weeks to go before the contest proper. In Programs' update, we only have 15 participants, which is less than half of the new target. That also already includes non-architecture students, those from engineering," he continued, his laptop now set. "Our publicity efforts right now are centered on SNS, with separate pages for the whole Pillars event and the contest. We have one poster each at the Architecture and Engineering colleges. While our online presence is okay, it's not doing enough. We decided that we need a stronger campaign for this, which means doubling our online presence, and also in the colleges. We need to have a really strong impact that will run from here until the week of the contest. What we propose are increasing the number of posters in the colleges, a large tarpaulin or a standee in front of the building, and partnering with Architecture and Engineering colleges in nearby universities, sending posters and standees to them too. We actually have a proposed revised campaign ready."

He opened the rough poster draft they made earlier.

"To partner this hype for the contest, we also propose to upscale the other events of Pillars, such as the exhibit and the culminating activity on December," Misaki continued. "We are aware that the External Relations department is currently busy, so we plan to just get their contacts with other universities and we'll do the negotiations. With regard to the Marketing department, we ask if we can possibly get all these done by the end of this week, we can also handle dealing with the printing press if we have to."

They then opened the floor for questions to them before they moved on to Logistics. In the end, their proposal was accepted with minor changes and they immediately started the preparations, such as asking the necessary help from External Relations.

* * *

Every day following that meeting was filled with work for Pillars. Their Publicity team was particularly mobilized.

"We got the deal with Junior Architecture Association," she said when she arrived to their first class that morning. She had just come from a meeting with a representative from the said student organization from a nearby university. "They promised to help with promotions both online and live, but we can only give them 4 posters, no standees."

"Okay, our online traffic has improved drastically, and the posters are ready for pick up today." She and Tsubasa had split the work into two. Tsubasa took care of the materials and online promotions while she took care of the partnership deals.

"I think we can reach half the target by next week," she said, while looking at their page which Tsubasa was tracking.

And they did. The following week, they already had more than half of the target number of participants. And as the number increased, so did their work.

"Why are these posters still here?" Tsubasa's eyes widened when they got to the clubroom that morning. "These are the ones to be given to the partner orgs, right?"

"Someone from my team is going later to deliver that, calm down," she said. "What about the additional posters to be printed?"

"Misaki-san, Architecture Majors Association finally agreed to have a meeting later about the deal," someone from her team then approached her.

"Okay, are you free later? Or do you need me to go instead?"

"Andou-senpai, the Exhibit team is asking if you're fine with the layout they made."

"Tsubasa, Misaki-san, it's almost time, we have to go," Megane called them for their first class.

"Okay, coming. Just update me later, okay?" she reminded her staff before following Megane and Tsubasa.

First class was 122 with Kazu. While even she usually feels sleepy in this class, she couldn't because she had to keep on checking her phone for her staff who were currently outside talking to partner organizations to make the deal.

"_Senpai, where is the 3__rd__ batch of posters? __I__ was supposed to drop them along the way to the meeting__.__"_

"Tsubasa, did your staff pick up the 3rd batch of posters already?" she whispered to him.

"Are they ready?" Tsubasa then looked at her confused.

"Why are you asking me? Shouldn't you be the one to know that since you're in charge of printing?"

"I thought you made your staff send it to the printing press yesterday as he went to a meeting," Tsubasa cussed that made Kazu look at them. They immediately shut up.

"I don't have the file, dummy," she hissed.

"Everything's in the group," he retorted.

"Guys, talk about it later," Kaname hushed them.

She texted her staff to go to the printing press right now to have the posters printed.

At lunch break, the same staff called to tell her that he got the files to the press already for rush printing but can't pick it up the same afternoon because he has to go to the meeting.

"It's okay, I'll pick it up myself, my class ends around that time, you go focus on the deal," she told him before she hang up the phone. "Tsubasa, go with me later, we're delivering those to the other schools later too."

"I know, let's eat out later! We haven't gone out in a while, guys," Megane suggested, noticing the tension between the two of them.

"I think I'll have to pass, guys," Nobara carefully said.

"Everyone should come, Tsubasa and Misaki-san's too stressed, they need a break," Kaname immediately said. He smiled at Nobara. Nobara looked away but nodded. "Anna-san, Nonoko-san, you guys are coming too, right?"

"Yeah, we're not doing anything later anyway," the two agreed.

As usual, the two of them went to Tsubasa's dorm after lunch before heading off for PE.

"Misaki-san," Ryotaro then came, calling out her name carefully.

"Ryotaro-kun," she smiled nervously. After a few days of avoiding him, she finally got the courage to say no to him, using Pillars as her excuse. But she knew she can't use that as an excuse forever.

"How's your project?" he asked.

She had talked to Nobara about this dilemma before. In the end, Nobara suggested she go out with him once, to give him a chance. "Though I'm not sure someone will be happy about that," Nobara giggled when she said that.

"Ryotaro-kun, honestly, I'm awkward in this kind of thing, you know, plus the fact that I am really busy with the project. Everything's mixed up right now, but I promise I'll talk to you after this. I just, really can't talk to you properly right now," she said.

Ryotaro's awkward face brightened. "Yeah, sure, thanks, Misaki-san."

"Misaki, let's go," Tsubasa then arrived, his face dark. He went outside immediately and she followed, waving goodbye to Ryotaro.

"Oi, wait up!" she said as she caught up to him. "Are you still irritated about the posters? I already did something about that, didn't I?"

"Are you dating that guy? Is that the reason you forgot about the posters? Who was it that kept on telling me that I'm too lax with this project?"

"Oh gosh, Tsubasa, are you that irrational? Let's talk about this later, when you've cooled down a bit," she said before going ahead of him.

That afternoon, they were still arguing about the matter even when they had already picked up the posters and delivered them to the partner schools.

"You're not the one busy going here and there, trying to make deals with partner orgs in other universities, which you yourself suggested we do," they were walking to their favorite pizza place in 11th street, the two of them ahead of the others.

"Well if you have been more focused maybe it wouldn't slip your mind," Tsubasa argued back.

"Kaname-kun, are you okay?" Megane asked Kaname who stopped on his tracks.

"I wasn't! In the first place, printing is on your side of the work!"

"Tsubasa, Misaki-san, get back here, Kaname-kun's unconscious!" the two of them immediately turned around and saw Kaname held by Megane. "He's not waking up! Let's bring him to the hospital."

Tsubasa immediately put an arm around Kaname while Hayate did the same to the other side and they all rushed to the nearest hospital.

* * *

"Why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend, aren't I?" he said as he sat on a chair beside Kaname's hospital bed. Kaname had just woken up, and the others left them to talk. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well at all? And we even played soccer the other night!"

"Exactly why I couldn't tell you. I knew you'd get worried and will not allow me to do anything at all, plus you're busy with Pillars. You're even arguing with Misaki-san every day," Kaname smiled weakly at him. "I know Misaki-san's a perfectionist, but you tend to lose your cool when you snap, you know. Treat her nicer."

"I'm not the issue here, you should have told me. If I knew, I wouldn't have allowed you to join the games," he pulled at his hair. "Damn! I should have noticed. You were absent frequently, spacing out a few times, and you already refused most of the games."

"Tsubasa, don't blame yourself. See, that's why I couldn't tell you, you put too much pressure on yourself and blame yourself too much," Kaname tried to laugh before turning serious again. "But, Tsubasa, I need your help with something, man."

* * *

"Yeah, yeah, we got it all delivered, don't worry. Okay, good job, we'll work on including the logo to the online posts immediately, okay, sure, thanks," Misaki placed her phone inside her bag and went to sit beside Nobara who was still utterly shocked at the discovery of Kaname's sickness. "Nobara-chan, are you okay? That must have been too shocking for you. He's the liveliest among us, for him to have a terminal illness is just too much."

"Misaki-chan," Nobara faced her and tears started welling up in her eyes. She immediately pulled her head to her chest where she started sobbing.

"You're too fragile, Nobara-chan," she said as she gently patted her back.

"That's not it, Misaki-chan," Nobara pulled away and tried removing the tears with her hands. "Kaname-kun's condition, I, I must have aggravated it."

* * *

"What? You got dumped?" was the first thing Tsubasa could say after Kaname's long tale.

* * *

Hello there, dear reader! Thank you for reaching this part. During the week, as I was writing one of the future chapters, I had to check something with my other stories because I was afraid I might use the same thing. Doing that, I got to read some of the chapters and my answers to reviews, and then eventually to the reviews itself. I realized I responded too negatively, probably letting my emotions get the better of me that time. I re-read the reviews and realized they were actually constructive, but I took it as a flame when I shouldn't have. I have been too proud at that time, thinking I actually wrote well. I would like to apologize to those critics who gave their time for my story. I don't know if they would get to read this, but I want to do it here rather than update that story again, because I'm afraid some people might have them on their alerts list, and I might cause unnecessary alert when I didn't add anything to the story in reality. I will update my profile with the same apology.

So to those who reviewed this so far, thank you so much for giving me something as precious as your time. Cute Tangerine204, I'm doing my best to make sure I don't mistype anything this time :) HeartMitternacht13654 and th1rd3ye, I hope I get to maintain your feelings for this story. Thank you everyone, I'll see you next, next Saturday!


	9. Chapter 9

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

"Were you really listening? Not exactly, dude, well, it's going there, most probably," Kaname hit him with a pillow. "Anyway, as I said, I already confessed before she found out about my sickness because I know she'll feel burdened if she found out I'm going to die and then my feelings. She'll probably cry and blame herself just like what you did just now, and is probably actually doing it right now. But I can't clear that up because she's been avoiding me ever since."

"Ha ha. Kaname the Casanova failed. Anyway, I just have to try to make her talk to you, right?" he threw back the pillow at him. "But dude, please don't say things like dying, you won't, I will not allow it, you freak. The doctor did say you still have a chance."

Just then, the doors opened and a tall blonde man entered.

"Ah, Tsubasa, he's the cousin I told you about, the one I stayed with during the restoration of the dorms," the man shook his hand before starting to berate Kaname.

"I'll go outside for now," he said and went outside. He found Megane and Hayate waiting outside.

"Here, have a drink first, Tsubasa," Megane handed him a can of soda. They both had a can each.

"Where are the others?" he asked as he popped open the can.

"Outside, Ibaragi was too shocked when the doctor told us Casanova's condition," Hayate answered him. "Your wife brought her outside to breathe."

"For the nth time, Misaki's not my wife, this is why you keep getting the whacks from her," he stood up to follow the girls.

He found them seated on a bench outside the hospital grounds. Misaki noticed him and said something to Nobara before approaching him alone.

"How's Nobara-san?"

"Blaming herself for having caused stress to Kaname-kun," she answered him. "Did he tell you what happened?"

"Yeah, pretty much guessed everything else too. He's worried for her but he said she's been avoiding him," he looked at Nobara who was still sobbing a bit but was trying to calm herself down. "He wants to talk to her."

"I'm not sure she can right now, but I'll try talking to her. I'll buy her a drink first," she went to the nearby vending machine and bought a can of juice before going back to Nobara, motioning him to wait where he is.

He watched her talk to Nobara and a little while later, the four girls stood up to go back inside. She shook her head and motioned for him to follow.

* * *

"Hey, how are you? Are you okay?" she asked the moment they sat down inside their favorite coffee shop. Nobara decided she really couldn't face Kaname at that moment and they just went home for now. She asked Tsubasa to go out with her for a while.

She noticed Tsubasa's legs wobble as he sat down and finally let out a breath as soon as she asked. It was as if he was carrying the weight of a truck the whole time and his body finally gave out.

"I just can't believe it. My best friend at such critical condition," he pulled at his hair. She can feel his distress. "We even played soccer the other night. Any sport is not allowed for persons with arrhythmia."

"Kaname-kun will be fine, Tsubasa. He just has to be careful this time," actually, if he faints one more time, that'll start the countdown to his life. "I'll order."

She stood up and went to the counter. It was always Tsubasa who went to order every time they were here, but he usually just took the usual orders. She decided to order from the special menu and chose a relaxing drink, topped with milk which formed a pattern on the drink. She especially asked for a sun pattern for Tsubasa's drink.

She went back after paying for the order. A little while later, she saw a waiter come out with their order.

"What's up?" Tsubasa asked her when she smiled. The waiter then arrived to announce that their order's here and placed the drinks and the pastries in front of them. Tsubasa immediately let out a small laugh when he saw his cup. "This is new."

"Try it, it's from their special menu," she said. "I asked for a sun, for you to brighten up and as a reminder of Kaname-kun's lively nature."

He showed a sad smile before deciding to take a sip from the cup.

"Ah, by the way, my staff called earlier, the deal with ATC is on, we need to include their logo on the page immediately," she informed him. "Just a little more, Tsubasa, after the contest we don't need to do much anymore since only the exhibit remains."

"We'll definitely reach the target," he said as he took out his laptop. "I'll do it right now. Will they allow a standee?"

"Yeah, they're having a fair so they can use their slot as an info booth for the contest," she answered.

"Okay, I'll tell my staff to have them printed tomorrow," he said and started working on the online poster. "You think Nobara-san's going to be okay?"

"Not sure. Gosh, I didn't notice that she's been avoiding Kaname-kun, and here I was pouring all my problems on her," she blew in exasperation. She had confided everything about Ryotaro to Nobara, not knowing she was having problems of her own in the same area.

"Problems? About the project?"

"Nah, let's just say problems that I can only confide to girls," she said then changed back the topic to Nobara. "They should talk. Poor Kaname-kun probably wants no one to blame himself for his condition."

"You didn't seem like you were having dysmenorrhea lately, though," Tsubasa shrugged his head a bit but still focused on his laptop. "Yeah, they should. And we should try helping them too. Ah, there, that's done."

Tsubasa was able to update their page immediately too then they both went home.

Kaname was able to come to class after another day at the hospital. While he was still his usual lively self, they all had to make sure he was always calm and wouldn't get too overexcited to maintain his heartbeat.

Nobara, though, was still avoiding a direct conversation with him. But they couldn't help them since it was something personal to Nobara, and the two of them, Tsubasa and her, had to be increasingly focused on their efforts to gather participants for the contest.

The day of the contest came and most members of SCA were present since it was the first major event of the semester.

"Still a pity I couldn't be the host," Kaname regretfully said. He was originally one of the slated to be the host but due to his condition, they had to immediately rule him out.

"It's okay, having you guys to support us here is already something for us. Ah, Tsubasa said not to get excited by anything," she tapped his arm then stood up to leave them. "Speaking of, I have to find him to check on documentation."

She found Tsubasa near the sound booth checking on things on his laptop. "Tsubasa, how's documentation?"

"All set. Got them all on their positions," he answered. "Good job on the ads, by the way. They're clearly seen."

"Okay, team, last huddle before we officially begin this," Saki called them all near the sound booth. "This is the first half of Pillars and this is very crucial for the whole project. As I can see right now, we've got everything covered. I hope nothing happens, but should something occur, do something immediately and alert me. We can do this, Pillars, let's go."

They all went back to their assigned places and the host started his opening. Soon the contest began and most people were quiet to allow the contestants to focus. She decided to go around the audience area. She was nearing Kaname and the others' place when she passed by Ryotaro, who had just arrived.

"Ryotaro-kun? Why are you here?" she asked, surprised and confused at the same time.

"Can't I come to watch?" he timidly asked. He probably wanted to sound cooler, but he was still always a bit shy when it came to Misaki no matter how close they were during freshman year. "No, actually, I came to support you."

She was taken aback, but at the same time, she found his shyness cute. It would take her a much longer time to realize that this was actually an indicator that her headstrong personality made her intimidating, though.

"Ah. Is that so? Then thank you, Ryotaro-kun. I hope you find it interesting," she smiled at him. It was the first time in a while that she truly smiled at him.

She proceeded to her original destination, her friends' place. She approached the girls first. Nobara was first on the row, with Nonoko, Anna, Megane, Hayate, and Kaname seated next to her in order, putting her farthest to Kaname.

"Did he come to support you?" Nobara immediately asked, having seen Ryotaro.

"Yeah, he did," she smiled. She then looked at the others. "You guys alright here?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Megane answered. "I wonder how their presentations will be, though."

"Hope there'll be a really funny one," Hayate said.

Hayate's wish did come true, but not to the extent he wanted. Every contestant presented really good ideas, but there were some who presented theirs in a humorous way. Overall, the event was a success, especially in terms of numbers.

"Again, in behalf of the Project Pillars team and SCA, we congratulate the winners and thank all the participants and partners for joining us here today. We hope to see you again on December for the exhibit, thank you and good afternoon," Saki said after the host closed the event.

"Misaki-san, congratulations!" Ryotaro approached her as everyone partied on the venue. He gave her a bottle of water. "You must be tired. Would you like to, uhm, eat somewhere?"

"You stayed? Wow, thanks, Ryotaro-kun," she took the bottled water. "Sorry, though, the team's having a celebration and I'm still going home. I'll talk to you next time, promise."

She nodded at him before turning back to help out in wrapping up. Nobara and every SCA member present were there helping out.

"I saw that," Nobara teased her.

"Ha ha. Don't go teasing me now, Nobara-chan," she said. They heard a familiar loud laugh from somewhere. They looked around and saw Kaname and the boys playing around. "You really have to talk to him. He's worried about you. He'll understand however you feel about him, seriously."

"But what if his heartbeat goes wrong?" Nobara's voice shook.

"Well, his heartbeat probably isn't very stable right now with being very worried about you, too," she said. "C'mon, Nobara-chan, we're all friends here, it's better if everything's clear."

"Hey, you idiots, stop making Kaname laugh too much!" just then, a jacket was wrapped around her shoulders and the bottle in her hand was snatched. "Oi, I saw that science guy here. Is he your shadow or something?"

"Ah, Ryotaro-kun, he came to watch the contest," she answered. They didn't notice Nobara slip away from them. "He came to support me."

"Are you dating that guy? So you like the nerdy type," Tsubasa's mood now was better than the last few weeks, she noticed.

"No I'm not," her mood was supposed to be better now too, but she felt a vein pop in her head. "Hey, you've been picking on me since last week."

"No I'm not," he said. She snatched the water bottle from him and drank too. "Just afraid you get distracted from such crucial job if you're in a 'new couple' bliss phase."

"Oh for goodness' sake, how many times do I have to tell you I am not distracted?"

"Hey you guys, we chose you two for the job because we thought you two worked harmoniously, or were we wrong?" Tono wrapped an arm each around them. "Stop arguing now, Saki-chan's treating the whole team."

Everyone in Project Pillars cheered.

"Are you coming too, Tono-senpai?" Saki asked Tono.

"Of course!"

"Then you should be the one treating us, you're the department head here," Saki stuck out her tongue. "Oi, everyone in Corporate Projects, our boss is treating us today."

"That's not fair! You promised your team you're treating us today," Tono quickly retorted.

"I promised them I'm treating them today, not including you." Tono did end up treating his whole department to pizza that day.

* * *

The next few weeks after the contest were more relaxed for Tsubasa and her. Preparations for the grand exhibit were underway and their role was less active for this one. Their focus for the project now was simply publicity, and they spent less time on function team meetings.

"I'm still thinking of redoing those posters later, when we get the final concept from the exhibit team. Just post in the group if you think of something too," Tsubasa said as they neared his dorm. It was their break before their PE classes again and they were going to drop off their things at Tsubasa's dorm first. "If we're gonna need a meeting, maybe we can schedule that this Thursday or Friday. I'll be back."

Tsubasa took her bag and went inside the dorm while she stayed in the lobby, as usual. She rested her head on her seat and massaged her temple a bit. It was a relief to see Tsubasa keep his laptop where they worked on their publicity materials during their less engaging subjects. She realized they've been facing that laptop for the last few months. Now it was time to take a little bit of break from it.

She inhaled and exhaled before slowly opening her eyes, just in time for Ryotaro to arrive. _And it__'__s also time to face you, _she thought. As she had expected, Ryotaro immediately approached her.

"Hi," she greeted, trying her best to compose herself.

"Hi, waiting for Andou-kun, as usual?" she just nodded. Silence.

Finally, she mustered enough courage and broke the silence.

* * *

"Okay, see you," Misaki waving goodbye to Ryotaro was the scene Tsubasa reached when he got back to the lobby. Ryotaro, who was going inside the dorm, nodded at him as he passed him.

"I still can't believe you like the nerdy type," he said to her, half joking.

"Oh gosh, Tsubasa you're in the same dorm, might I remind you? Now let's go," Misaki rolled her eyes at him before turning towards the exit.

"By the way, Saki-senpai just called, she wants to see the drafts by tomorrow," he said as they started walking.

"Already? Wow, and here I thought we won't be bugged by this project too much for at least for this week," she blew. "Anyway, we have to finalize everything by tonight. I still think that the first one is better than the second one you came up with. The second one's concept is a bit unrelated to what we originally publicized during the contest."

And it went on again, the endless brainstorming about concepts, that is. They continued until late at night, communicating through social media. The following day, Saki called them over to the clubroom to talk about the poster.

"Hi, you two, I've seen the poster, and I know you two are eager to be able to relax a bit, but it looks like you won't," Saki took a long breath before moving on. "Guys, I think it's a bit plain, I'm positive Tono-senpai won't approve of this, even Toki-senpai."

They looked at each other wide-eyed. Misaki had insisted last night that it was already okay even though he kept on saying that something was missing. He looked at her with eyes saying, "I told you so".

"We need to release this already. As much as I don't want to pressure you guys, we have no choice but to have you work on this today and have a final poster by tonight. You two work on this and update me every now and then so that I can point out things immediately," Saki said. "I have class, I'll go now, make sure you both are online tonight."

As soon as Saki went away, the two of them started arguing as they went to the balcony of the clubroom.

"I told you that wasn't enough," he said.

"I know! But you insisted on that concept, didn't you?" she retorted."

"Hi guys, Tsubasa went here, right? Where's he?" Kaname arrived at the clubroom. Everyone wordlessly pointed to the balcony. "Tsubasa, Misaki-san, there you are."

"'Morning, Kaname-kun," Misaki said to him without even looking. "How many times did I tell you to change the color scheme?"

"Hey guys, we still have class—"

"I did, but when I did you said, 'that's fine, let's go to sleep now'," he argued back.

They didn't notice Kaname slip away with defeated shoulders.

"Hey, you guys, why's the clubroom so quiet?" Tono was next to arrive. Again, with the addition of Kaname, everyone pointed to the balcony. "Oh, looks like my favorite pair is here. Just right, I wanted to talk to you."

Tono approached them, wrapping an arm each on their shoulders. They immediately shut up.

"Saki-chan showed me the poster, and as you may be expecting, I have the same comment, it's way too plain. It's a stark contrast to how you two publicized Pillars this year," he started lecturing them. "Look, we chose you two for the job because we believed in your teamwork. If you remember during your application, whenever you two had to work on something together, it was always nice. What happened to that?"

They both kept silent. What **did** happen to that?

"Have you two been fighting like this since the start?" they both looked down. "Tell you what, you two stop working on the poster for the rest of the day. Start later tonight, I think you both need a break, is that clear?"

They nodded, Tono then led them inside the clubroom.

"There's Kaname-kun, you friends should go to your class now," he let them go and pushed them towards Kaname.

They set off to class quietly. He noticed Kaname try to speak but decide against it.

They remained quiet until lunch break. They didn't avoid each other yet neither was talking. They even head off to the counter together.

"What's wrong with Misaki-chan and Tsubasa-kun?" Anna and Nonoko asked.

"The usual, Pillars stuff. I heard the senpais didn't like the poster they made," Kaname answered, exasperated.

They got back to the table quietly. Their friends just looked at them as they placed their trays on the table and start eating. He unknowingly took his spoon and fork from Misaki's tray who also unknowingly took two sets, which she often did, for the both of them.

They both tried to find other things to do while having lunch. Misaki took out a book to read while he played games on his phone.

"What the hell, you two?" they were all surprised at Hayate's sudden outbreak. "If you're going to fight, yell at each other or do it with fists or whatever, just do it seriously! Who the hell fights but continues being lovey dovey?"

Hayate was pointing with his fork at Misaki's plate, where he was stopped midway from taking out the onions that Misaki didn't like from the beef.

He blinked twice at while looking at his hand, then looked up to meet Misaki's eyes. Then they all laughed.

"What are we doing?" she said, not yet fully recovered from laughing. They all continued laughing until the end of lunch break.

As they were walking to their next class, he felt a hand on his arm, stopping him.

"Let's have a sleepover later?" Misaki smiled at him.

"What, you're planning something, aren't you?" he jokingly wrapped his arms around himself. WHACK!

* * *

The sleepover was a good idea. Saki finally approved the poster and was now up for posting and printing.

"Bye guys, I have to go somewhere, I'll be back later for the meeting, make sure you pick up the last batch of posters," Misaki reminded her staff before going.

It was Friday and she had agreed to meet with Ryotaro. She started walking to 11th street where she'll meet Ryotaro. She soon reached the café and saw him standing outside.

She took her phone to send a message to Nobara. "_Here we go,_" she sent the message and placed her phone back inside her bag. Since it was on silent, she didn't realize Nobara had immediately replied with _You can do it_.

* * *

"Andou-senpai! There you are," a staff of Misaki's came running to him. "The printing press only printed 20 posters."

"What? Didn't we ask for 40? That's a lot of difference," his eyes went wide. He just got back from delivering the posters for the sponsor. "Didn't you check the receipt? What's Misaki doing now?"

"We weren't able to check since Finance placed the order. We can't connect with Misaki-senpai. Sorry, senpai, I only checked the number of posters I picked up when I was distributing them to the partner orgs," the freshman staff looked down.

"Damn, Saki-senpai's expecting that we're done with distributing posters today, and Exhibit is also asking us for a spiel for the campaign," he looked at his watch. They only had a couple of hours left before the monthly assembly of SCA. "Did you ask someone to go to the press to have the next batch printed?"

"Yes, I just went back here after I finished distributing the posters I had," he nodded.

"Okay, here's what we do, I'll gather the other staff, you all go to the press so that once all posters are ready, you can distribute immediately. I'll stay here to finish the spiel for the campaign," he looked around once. "Where **is** Misaki? How many universities are you going to?"

"Four, senpai." They had a total of 4 staffs, 3 of which are with him right now, and the other one in the press. He tried dialing Misaki's number but it just kept ringing.

"I'll have to send all of you," it'll be almost time to go home when the printing is finished. "Fine, you three go to the press and distribute the posters after. Did Misaki give you the sign-up sheet? Make sure you give two copies each to the orgs. Update me immediately."

He watched them go for a while before taking a seat on a table in the lawn of the college. He started making the spiel for the campaign.

"Tsubasa, why are you here?" just then, Misaki arrived. He looked up and saw her coming inside the building.

"Where were you?" he asked immediately. "We couldn't contact you the whole afternoon. You didn't even monitor where your staff was!"

Misaki got surprised that she leapt back at his words. "Ow!" that's when he noticed there was another person who came in with her. His eyes immediately turned dark when he realized who the person was.

"Oh, so that's the reason why we couldn't contact you," he accused.

"Ryotaro-kun, you can leave me here now, see you," Misaki calmly said to Ryotaro. The guy complied and went out of the building. She then faced him, obviously annoyed. "What's your problem?"

"Care to say first why you weren't checking your phone, at all?" he said. Misaki checked her phone and saw the numerous missed calls and messages. "Finance made a mistake in placing the order, or probably the press, whichever. Point is, you didn't check, and you didn't even help your staff who was looking all over for you. And it turns out you were just on a date."

"Oh, gosh, you're being unreasonable here. Look, I'm sorry my phone was on silent. I was seriously busy and I just couldn't check my phone. But we don't handle the receipt, that's why there's Finance for that, don't blame that on me," she argued back.

"But you were just on a date. Wow, and last time you kept on nagging me that I wasn't focusing too much on the project. Look, I still have to do the spiel for the campaign but all our staff is outside," he said.

"Tsubasa! Misaki-san! Kaname was rushed to the hospital!" just then, Hayate came rushing. Nobara and Megane were running after him. Their eyes widened and they followed the three outside the building, where Nobara's car was waiting for them.

"What happened? Isn't he in the clubroom? Who brought him to the hospital?"

"He was already feeling bad and went to the hospital himself. His parents called the dorm to inform us," Hayate explained. They arrived at the hospital and saw Kaname's mom pacing back and forth.

"Tsubasa-kun, we've been telling him he has to undertake surgery," Kaname's mom told them. "But he doesn't want to because there's a chance of failing. If it fails…"

They all looked away when she started crying. He felt his legs' strength go away and fell seated on the chair. Misaki sat beside him holding on to his arm. Then he felt one of her hands unloop itself.

"Oh gosh, the spiel," she said. She silently took his laptop and continued what he was working on earlier.

"No, that line is better," he pointed out to a line he had typed earlier. Misaki glared at him but replaced the line. He continued pointing out a few things while she glared back at him.

"Argh! Can you shut up for a moment and allow me to finish first?" he shut up and allowed her to finish typing. She then looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "There, that's done. It's faster if you stop being annoying."

"Well, we're rushing here," he said as he sent it to Saki's email.

"You two, stop it," Megane said to them. "You're not helping Kaname-kun one bit by being like this. Especially you, Tsubasa. You're the best friend here. He probably wants someone to confide to but you're like this."

They both fell silent. Megane was right. He was too insensitive. His best friend was facing such a hard time and here he was arguing with Misaki.

"I'll go out for a while," he stood up and went outside to the lawn. His foot found a small pebble which he kicked in frustration. Then he felt a few tears escape from his eyes.

It was when his tears already dried when he felt a hand on his arm.

"I rejected him," she said. It took him a while to fully realize what she was saying. "Sorry for the misunderstanding. I admit today was my fault."

"Sorry too, for being annoying and nagging you. Even Kaname kept telling me not to lose my cool when I get irritated," he said. He then tapped her hand. "I'm okay now. Let's go, I have to face Kaname."

They went back up to Kaname's room. He was awake now. The others left the two of them to talk.

"Sorry, dude, really sorry," he said. "You've been trying to tell me, but I didn't notice. But Kaname, take the operation. Everyone believes you should."

"What if it fails? If it fails it's over for me, I want to at least live my life a little bit more," Kaname looked away, his eyes obviously scared. He couldn't believe Kaname, who had the stronger willpower between them, was like this now.

"The doctor said you have a high rate of survival, didn't you? It's because you're thinking like this that it might fail," he then hit his head lightly with his fist. "I'll knock some sense to you if I have to. Look here, I don't intend to lose my best friend and soccer buddy anytime soon, so you better take that operation, got it? We're going now."

He called the others in to say bye to Kaname since it was already late.

"Do you think he's going to take the operation?"

"Well, he has to. That guy is not as weak as he looks. Heck, he's probably the strongest among us," he said as they walked back to their homes.

"It is true he leads our group," they all agreed and fell silent thinking of their bright leader.

* * *

Kaname stayed at the hospital for the rest of the week but was able to come to class for three days the following week.

"Hey, guys, can we have a Christmas party among us before the break?" Kaname said. It was Friday afternoon and they were all in Kaname's hospital room, keeping him company before going back to their hometowns for the week. "It might be my last, you know."

"I told you not to think that way," Tsubasa was going to whack Kaname but she glared at him. "But yeah, we should do that."

"We should hold it the day after the Exhibit. It's the last Saturday before the break," she suggested. Everyone agreed on that. They talked a bit more before heading off to their hometowns, except Nobara who lived in the city.

Two weeks passed and it was time for the exhibit, the culminating event of Pillars.

"It's so nice to see the results of what we've worked hard for," she said to Tsubasa as they looked at the area. They were at the side of the gallery room where the Pillars exhibit was being held. Many people came, not just students but also professors and outsiders.

"Yeah it is," he agreed. "Hey, sorry again for how I acted the whole project."

She smiled. Despite having made up that day when Kaname was rushed to the hospital after she had talked to Ryotaro, they still constantly argued about the project. "It's okay, I nagged a lot too anyway."

She is aware that she is a perfectionist, and she nags until a task is done. On the other hand, Tsubasa is lax and does things on his own pace. Despite that, he's able to do his tasks easily. She realized that Tsubasa, when he gets annoyed, tends to snap, and might be a bit irrational. She learned to back down a bit when that happens instead of going head to head with him. He calms down fast as long as she explains softly rather than argue, and they're back on track again. Tsubasa's got a long patience and not many things annoy him, she noticed, but sometimes he can get annoyed suddenly and she doesn't know why, and sometimes she ends up not knowing 'til the end. Like that time during the acquaintance party. She decided that maybe it was because of being worried for Kaname, since he got crankier after Kaname's last hospital rush.

"I'm excited for tomorrow, but do you think Kaname-kun decided already?" she asked him, half excited about the party and half sad that it might very well be their last with Kaname, though she always tries to think differently.

He sighed. "I hope he did, he won't tell me." She patted him, knowing well that he was really worried but tried to keep cool about it.

* * *

For safety measures, they decided to do the mini party at the hospital, even though it was an okay day for Kaname to be out. As a gift to Kaname, his doctor obtained permission for them to use a small gazebo in the hospital lawn.

"Kaname-kun looks happy today," Misaki spoke to him while pouring soda on her cup. They watched the others who were laughing and playing games on the grass outside the gazebo. "You think he's made a decision already?"

"Hopefully," at that moment, Kaname waved at them, motioning them to join. Misaki readily joined them while he stayed to get another cup of soda. He was just about to look up when he felt Kaname go up to him. "Thirsty?"

Kaname took the bottle from him and poured on his own cup. He took a sip and they both fell silent, watching the others, before Kaname finally spoke. "I'm taking the operation." He looked at him, surprised. It had been almost 3 weeks since the doctor asked him to make the decision.

He regained himself and placed his gaze back to their friends on the lawn. "What made you?" as if on cue, Nobara looked up to them and smiled before drawing her eyes back to Megane who was on the process of cheating on whichever game they were playing.

"We're okay now, but I made the decision before she talked to me," Kaname answered before he could say anything. "I thought, I've got nothing to lose since it failing and not taking it means the same. I guess you're right, I'm too stubborn to be scared of this."

For the first time in a while, his mouth formed a smile full of relief. He patted Kaname's back, both to motion him to join their friends and to tell him good job.

"Happy winter break, everyone! And take care on the way home. Oi, Kaname, you better show yourself after the break next year," Megane jokingly threatened Kaname.

"Play those video games during your recovery. Make sure you've mastered it before we see each other again," Hayate said.

"But Hayate-kun, Kaname-kun can't get overexcited during that period." They all laughed, which was how they ended their year together.

* * *

Winter break was full of anxiety for all the friends. Kaname was scheduled for operation and they all kept on praying for him even if they were all separated. Until January, when they met each other again, however, there was still no news from Kaname.

"Hi, guys, how was vacation? Oi, Tsubasa, did you get fat?" Megane was loud as usual.

"I didn't! I think you should say that to Misaki, I think that sleeve had a bit more space than last time." WHACK!

"Idiot!" her nostrils flared.

"See, the whacks are stronger," WHACK! "It hurts!"

"Serves you right," she glared at him.

"Did you guys hear anything yet from Kaname-kun?" Anna asked.

"None yet. Tsubasa keeps saying not to worry about him at all, but he doesn't have any news from him either," she said. The last they heard from Kaname was a text message just before his final preparation for the operation, saying, 'This is it, thank you, guys,' while Tsubasa received a call too.

Tsubasa just looked at them poker faced.

"Looks like you're all happy without me," just then, a familiar lively voice approached them. They all turned and saw Kaname walking towards them, bright and charming as he was before, as if he had not just undergone a critical operation a few weeks ago.

A wide smile slowly spread on their faces upon seeing right in front of them the proof that they should now be at ease.

"Kaname-kun!" all of them girls exclaimed at the same time. Megane however, was faster and ran towards him.

"Oops, still under recovery here, can't get excited too much," Kaname immediately raised his hands to stop him.

"Oh, right, sorry, man, we didn't hear anything from you, we were wondering what happened to you," Megane just tapped him instead.

"Haha. Sorry guys, I wanted to surprise all of you," Kaname then faced Tsubasa who remained where he was the entire time. "Hey, dude, why are you there? Didn't you miss me at all?"

"Not really," Tsubasa shrugged his shoulders.

"What kind of best friend are you?" Kaname pouted then jokingly clung to Tsubasa's arm. "Weren't you worried that I'd be in the grave by now?"

Tsubasa wriggled free of Kaname's grasp. "Baka. Who the hell won't find it weird if no one told me, as you yourself said, your best friend, that you're going to the grave? Telling even your mom to not send any update to us didn't help at all with your surprise. This kind of surprise is so you, I smelled it all the way from Shimoda."

That made sense. So that was why Tsubasa was relaxed after a few days of no news after the scheduled operation. They all laughed.

Just then, a twirling figure with a familiar blond hair was inside their circle. "Oh, what a happy bunch! Gosh, you young ones remind me of my not-so-distant youth."

"Narumi-sensei," they all looked at their watches nervously.

"We'll go ahead, see you at lunch," Anna and Nonoko carefully went away. The rest of them used Narumi's lost-in-memory trance to scuttle to their seats inside the room.

"Hello, mina-san, looks like we're back to the daily grind after such a nice break," Narumi greeted as soon as he was on the stage. "And that means it's time to continue working on those building plans of yours. I do hope some of you worked on that during vacation or at least thought of possible ideas or changes to it."

Everyone just laughed nervously.

* * *

The eventful 1st half of the semester was replaced by a more peaceful 2nd half, with most of their worries placed on completing their requirements in their classes. Even election season in the organizations were participated passively since they were only sophomores who usually didn't have any interest in taking on executive positions yet.

Just like that, the second semester of their sophomore year quickly reached an end. There were no dangers this time of failing a subject, even for Kaname who had plenty of absences during the 1st half.

"Ah, we've come to the end of our class once again," Narumi said. Again, the final day he reserved for collecting their final outputs. "I guess you all are moving on from Basic to Intermediate Architecture. Well, no use delaying it, pass your final outputs now."

They filed up and one by one passed their outputs in front. Narumi of course took a peek at each as they placed it on the desk.

Tsubasa and Misaki were almost back to their seats when Narumi spoke again.

"I thought you guys said you're not doing anything similar this time? Andou, Harada, looks like you two had just resolved an issue," they looked back and saw Narumi holding on each hand their outputs for everyone to see.

"You know that I'm using that color scheme, why did you copy it?" Misaki's eyes almost popped out.

"I thought since you'd been using that in many of your works you'd change it by now. And of course I wouldn't know, we decided not to look at each other's work, didn't we?"

"Last semester the main difference in your outputs was the color scheme and now that you've got that covered, why don't you two just get married?" Narumi was smiling from ear to ear.

* * *

And there we have it, people, chapter 9 is out. I've already gone through my first week of classes and boy was that already hell. I'm handling positions in 2 different organizations this semester so I'm already pretty busy. Honestly, I wasn't able to finish the chapter I was supposed to be working on this week. But no worries, I'll make sure I finish it today so that I can get back on track with my fanfiction schedule. Anyway thank you to those who reviewed, favorite-d, alerted, and read the last chapter, I hope you do like what's happening so far. Sorry for updating a bit later than intended, I went out all day yesterday. See you guys next week!


	10. Chapter 10

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

"Whoo! 3rd year! Time for schedules to get crazy!" was Megane's first yell when they all saw each other again during enrollment for the next semester.

They were 3rd year Architecture majors now, which meant more classes per day and more plates to do at home. It also meant taking more active roles in their organizations, a prime time to take on projects. Of course, they still took the same schedules.

"Looks like not much time for soccer now, Tsubasa?" she teased the guy.

"We'll see, we'll see," he just chuckled.

She immediately glared at him. "Oi, we're taking on leader roles in Projects, if we get on the same project again, don't you dare skip any meeting just because of soccer. And Kaname-kun's still recovering too."

"I'm fine, Misaki-san," Kaname smiled at her. "Tsubasa's got a conscience. He won't play soccer knowing he left behind his best friend who is coincidentally his roommate too, who wants to play also but cannot."

They all shivered at the bright but threatening aura Kaname was emitting.

"Kaname-kun! How was spring break? Are you fully recovered now? Which block did you take? What role did you apply for?" just then, Kaname's ever growing legion of fans arrived. One even gave him a box of homemade cookies.

"I'm fine now. I'm taking the same block as I did last semester. Kana-senpai said she'd like to have me on her team in Externals as per Tono-senpai's recommendation so I'm applying for the Sponsorship team. Ahh, I know I really shouldn't but these cookies look delicious, it will be alright for me to accept this, right?"

They all just shook their heads at the sight in front of them. One moment Kaname was emitting a bright yet scary aura, the next thing you know he's charming swarms of women.

"This guy is really scary, he's at par with you, Misaki," Tsubasa said to which everyone agreed.

After the girls went away, Kaname faced them again. "The cookies look delicious, you guys should try some."

* * *

"Woah, what's this, we've got a complete attendance, down to the now inactive elders," Tono exclaimed when Midori, SCA's new Executive Secretary for the current school year, passed him the attendance paper.

"Almost always happens on the 1st meeting for the year, I remember last year we almost had a 100% too, if not for one person. If you weren't the President now we probably won't achieve a 100% again this year," she looked at him meaningfully before taking her place in front. "Good evening, SCA, welcome to our very first general meeting for the year. And congratulations to us too for achieving a perfect attendance today, I see that even the fifth years attended despite declaring inactivity for the year, thank you, senpais. We acknowledge the presence of some of our alumni too. Well, let's have the new President now, which I know, is the reason why you're all excited for this meeting."

Tono stood up and took Midori's place.

"Can you believe it? SCA's in the hands of that old pervert. Not to mention he's already in his fifth year," Misaki immediately shushed Tsubasa.

"Despite being a pervert, he's actually a good leader and he really cares about the org," Kaname said. It was true, and was probably the reason Tono won the presidency unopposed. There were some seniors who originally planned to run but when Tono declared his intention to run despite being a fifth year, or elder as they prefer to call it, everyone knew he was going to win.

"Well, first of all, I guess I should thank everyone again for electing me to be your President this year despite being in my last year. The guys from my batch all declared inactivity now but I'm here, taking responsibility as President. As Midori-chan said, y'all are probably looking forward to my plans for the org, and I must say, I am too. Looking at this generation of SCAers right now, I know this year'll be one filled with achievement and excitement for the org." Tsubasa felt his previous mentor look at him particularly.

Tono spoke a bit more about the current plans for the year, together with the other executive officers, before proceeding to the announcement of roles and departments.

"For Blueprint, Project Head is Saji Ryuu, Programs team leader is Harada Misaki, and Communications team leader is Andou Tsubasa," Saki, Tono's successor as Vice President for Corporate Projects, announced. "Ah, and please take note that this team has a short meeting immediately after."

"Oh ho, looks like a good team. Saji was the best in his batch before, he outshone the second years above him at that time. And that's the duo who made a big turnaround for Pillars last year," alumni and the fifth years commented.

"Looks like we're in the same team again," he raised his fist to Misaki who bumped it with her own.

"I'll make sure to come up with a good lineup, so make sure you get good speakers," he whistled at the challenge.

As he mentioned earlier, Kaname was taken in External Relations as part of the Sponsorship team while Nobara went to the Projects team in the Finance department. Hayate was still under External Relations while Megane took on the role of Recruitment Head.

As Saki had announced earlier, they had a short team meeting first before going.

"Okay, it's just you three for now but later on after the first department meeting you'll have your staff with you. I think you all understand that this is a signature event of SCA, it's what puts the entrepreneurship in our motto. Ryuu-kun, lead this team well. Misaki-san, the lineup is the core of the project. Tsubasa-kun, execution is up to you, make sure you get the best speakers."

"Ah, for me, I'd just like to say that I'm a person who does things personally. Expect a few sleepovers or rather all night-ers together. But I guess you guys won't have problems with that, there's probably nothing awkward between you guys anymore," Ryuu said.

"Our friendship skipped too large gaps, we got synchronized with each other without really knowing each other well. Plus we didn't have a chance to be awkward because there's not an hour that we don't fight," Misaki waved her hand dismissively.

"We get along well, we can survive under the same roof, but don't ask me things like her favorite food, she had eaten every food I saw her come across," he added.

"Hey, you make me sound like a pig," she glared at him.

"Well, you're the one who called it 'pigging out' every time we're in a party." WHACK!

* * *

"Kids, this is already our third activity but why do you always pair with the same person? You won't be working with the same engineer or contractor for every project, don't let yourself get used to the same person. Hurry up, change partners this instant," the professor clapped his hands. They all had no choice but to switch partners.

The eight of them looked at each other. He and Kaname, Misaki and Nobara, Megane and Hayate, and of course Anna and Nonoko, they had always paired like this since the second semester of last year. They all just stared at each other not knowing what to do until Kaname spoke.

"Hayate-kun, we never got in the same group, let's pair up this time," Kaname moved his seat towards Hayate. They all followed suit. He pulled pulled Misaki's seat to the spot Kaname vacated. Anna moved beside Nobara and Megane moved beside Nonoko. They all started working after that.

"I just thought of an idea, why don't we do it like this? I think it'll be awesome," Kaname was the loudest in the class.

"Oi, pipe it down a little, will you? You're the only one talking here," he tried shutting him up.

"Not really, it's just that you two are not talking at all. Why are you two awkward? It's not like it's your first time working together," Kaname said, waving a ruler as he spoke. "We kinda miss the fighting every time you two are working together."

He and Misaki looked at each other. It actually was awkward.

"It's been quite a while since we last worked as a pair in schoolwork," Misaki said. "And the last time we worked together, we got into a serious fight."

"And you're awkward because of that? Wow, you guys, you already lived together under one roof, just the two of you. You played the Pocky game, became co-leaders in a project, have an eating pattern together, had practically the same outputs, heck, you even saw him half naked already!" "SSHHH!" "Oops, sorry, got carried away."

"Sono-kun, isn't it?" the professor approached them. They all went quiet immediately. "The one who had an operation, and undisputedly part of the top of the batch. I think you should be focusing on your work if you want to reclaim the top spot." He then looked at the whole class, his gaze stopping at Tsubasa. "Oh, I forgot the one on top is your friend. And he's actually back with his well-known partner. Sono-kun, maybe you should find a partner too if you want to beat Andou-kun."

"Being top of the batch is not really my goal, sensei," Kaname said before giving the professor his bright smile. "Oh, Hayate-kun, that's great. See, it would be awesome if we did that!"

The professor peered in on the duo's work before looking at them again. "Andou-kun, looks like you really can't rest easy. There's another naturally talented one in this batch."

"Is their work that great?" Misaki wondered.

"Don't mind it," he continued drawing on their paper.

"I'm not one to back down, you know that," she then tapped her own face with both hands. "Ah, Kaname-kun's right, we should stop this silly awkwardness. Let's show 'em Corporate Projects' best duo."

"I bet my money that they'll start arguing again now that they got over the awkwardness," Kaname declared.

"I don't know if they're a poor or good match. Someone's too hyped up and the other one's too lax," Megane shook his head at them.

And they did start arguing again, which lasted until the end of the class.

* * *

"Okay, class, make groups of 6, we're going to have a report next week," of course, the six of them grouped together, Megane, Hayate, Nobara, Kaname, Tsubasa, and her. Anna and Nonoko weren't their classmates for this class.

"What a lucky number," Kaname exclaimed when they got into a group circle.

"Oh ho, the top guns grouped together," Professor Tsukimiya commented when he saw them. "Let's see, we have Yamada-sensei's shoo in for the top spot, Sono Kaname, then Narumi-sensei's favorite pair, top guy Andou Tsubasa and his partner Harada Misaki. Make sure to show me something I haven't seen before."

"Argh, I don't like the pressure but I don't like common presentations either," she said.

"Her eyes are burning, she'll spit out fire," Tsubasa and Megane laughed. WHACK! WHACK!

"Especially you two, don't you dare be troublemakers. We should come up with a concept immediately," she looked at the topic assigned to them in the book.

"It's the first time we're all in the same group, why don't we come up with a team name first," Kaname suggested. "What about our duo's name, Bear and Friends? Let's expand, Tsubasa."

"It's so childish and you're the only one who calls us that," Tsubasa immediately rejected it.

"What's up with the Bear thing?"

"He likes bears. He even knows how to make plushies, I bet he's even better than you at it, Misaki."

"I don't even know how to make a plushie," she said blankly.

"Do you even have a single hobby that's for girls?" WHACK! "Ah, right, you like to fight in your free time." WHACK!

"Want me to make you guys plushies?" Kaname offered.

"Ah, their roles are reversed," Megane said, all of them looking at the two: Kaname who was smiling brightly thinking of plushies and her beside him who had Tsubasa's collar in her hands.

* * *

"Make sure you start on your parts this weekend, okay? So that we just have to compile them and start working on our presentation when we get back together next week," she reminded the group before they went their separate ways that Friday.

"Sure, Misaki-san, see you next week," Nobara waved before rushing outside, a little bit too excitedly, she noted but disregarded it.

"Oi, Hayate, this will just be a short meeting, don't even dare take a nap or else we'll both get it from Misaki," Tsubasa reminded Hayate who was on his way back to the dorms to get his and Tsubasa's bags. Since they didn't have anything that afternoon, they decided to go home today rather than wake up early tomorrow morning.

"Oh, looks like we're all here," Ryuu said when he came inside the clubroom and saw the two of them already there. "I guess we should start immediately, Misaki-san, I already saw your list of ideas for the lineup, and I like it, but Tono-senpai was asking if we could somehow incorporate this topic. I got a vague idea of maybe combining that to this part of Misaki-san's lineup, what do you think, Tsubasa-kun?"

"It's interesting, and definitely new, but I still need to look up on possible speakers. I already got a list fit to Misaki's lineup but if we're incorporating that, I think we need to alter the lineup, like removing some of the sub topics to increase focus on that one," Tsubasa said as he studied the list in front of him. "We'll take note of that and try to come up with the first draft of the lineup this weekend."

"We still have that report, you think we can do both this weekend?"

"Well, you basically have the content of our report pinned down, I think we have more than enough time for this. Knowing you, you'll probably start altering the lineup at the train later," he said to her nonchalantly. "And you don't really need to rush in coming up with a presentation concept, we're having a sleepover for that anyway."

"Okay, looks like we're done with this meeting. I'll wait for that lineup draft, send it to me immediately so that I can review. See you next week, guys," Ryuu sent them off.

The meeting ended at the right timing. Hayate, who was waiting at the lobby of the clubroom, was almost dozing off. "Dude, we're going."

They stopped by her place to get her bags first before going on to the train station.

As Tsubasa had said, she started working on the lineup as soon as they sat in the train.

"If we do it like this, do you think it'll be better? Or will it be too broad?" she asked Tsubasa, showing him her notes.

"Hayate, you want some chips?" Tsubasa passed the bag of chips to Hayate without looking at him, then took her notebook to look at the words carefully.

"You offered me the chips before Harada, that's a first," Hayate noted as he took the bag from Tsubasa.

"She doesn't like eating junk food when she's writing," Tsubasa explained without looking at him.

"Not that I care much, but I feel like a third wheel when I'm with you two," but they still didn't pay any attention to him. "Should I move to Projects then? Nah, too hassle."

"Oh, we're already here, just upload that later so that we can work on it together," Tsubasa stretched before preparing his bags. "Oi, Hayate, wake up, we're here."

Hayate opened his eyes and blinked thrice before realizing that they've arrived. "Misaki-san, bye," he nodded to her before following Tsubasa out of the train. Pretty soon it was her stop too.

* * *

"Ahh, made it with lots of time to spare!" Misaki said as she stretched out her arms and legs. She had just sent to Ryuu the first draft she made. "Now time to think of that concept for our presentation."

"Misaki-chan, it's dinnertime!"

"Coming!" she took her pen and notebook down as she tried coming up with an idea for their presentation.

"Misaki-chan, it's time to eat, why are you still holding that notebook? You've been working since you came home yesterday," her mom reprimanded her.

"I'm just trying to come up with a concept for my group's presentation," she said but she did put down the notebook and focused on the food.

"A group presentation this time? Earlier you said that you're working on a program lineup for your org. Why are you doing so much? Do you even have time to go out with friends?"

"Working on extra-curricular activities and working on projects like these help big time when I become a fresh grad, mom," she explained.

"You're an Architecture student, Misaki-chan. You're not going into corporate business. If you were taking on activities that require you to draw plans, that will help you."

"I'm just expanding my field, mom. It's not like being an architect only means drawing plates. If it were, there won't be enough jobs for architects," she defended her stand.

"Sometimes I don't think it's a good thing that you're an achiever. You've been like that since grade school," her mom shook her head in defeat. "But you do have friends, right?"

"Mom! Of course I do. I'm not antisocial."

"What about a boyfriend? That's supposed to be the kind of problems you have at that age," her mom continued to interrogate her.

"I don't **need** to have a boyfriend, I'm too busy for that kind of thing," she said, exasperated.

"Or is there no one who likes you? Well, that's impossible, you're pretty, but then again, it's no use if you're too intimidating. You're an achiever, and your hobbies include sports and also fighting. Just to clarify, are you really a tomboy? C'mon, you can tell mom."

"For the hundredth time, I'm a girl. There are many girls who do sports out there, that's why there are women's teams."

"But they aren't really skilled in fighting."

"I cook."

"That's because you live alone."

"I wear dresses."

"But you eat like a pig even when you wear them."

Her eyes started to roll. "I have girl friends who are with me always."

"But there are guys in your group and you're with them more than the girls."

"That's because we're in the same team."

"Right, and you can even have sleepovers with guys without getting awkward."

"There was no choice at that time but to skip the awkwardness."

"Just get a boyfriend, please," and her mom got up with her plate.

"Ugh," she sighed, defeated.

"I really would rather have you having problems with guys than things that you should think of when you're at least 5 years older than now. Ah, you have a bunch of male friends in school, is there anyone handsome among them?" her mom faced her as with a dish in her hand and a sponge in the other.

"We have a total Casanova in our group," she downed her last spoonful of food and followed it with water then stood up and placed her plate on the sink. "I'm going up now."

* * *

"Come to think of it, this is going to be our first sleepover," Nobara said as they went to her apartment. "Maybe we should have invited Anna-chan and Nonoko-chan."

"But we'll probably be up the entire night, it'll just tire them," she said. They reached her apartment to pick up her overnight bag then went on to Nobara's house.

They all knew Nobara was rich, but they didn't expect her to live in a mansion. "Come in, guys. Ah, is Father here?" she asked the maid.

"No, Nobara-sama," Nobara nodded then led them to a guest room where they will be working for the night.

"Okay, guys, let's start this. Did you guys prepare for your parts already? Tsubasa, Kaname-kun, were you able to do that drawing I told you guys to do?" everyone was on alert as soon as she clapped her hands.

"What we experience for 1 and a half hour every week, we'll experience for the whole night, Tsubasa," Hayate whined. She immediately glared at him.

"Anyway, huddle around guys, let's discuss the concept again before we start practicing and preparing," it was Kaname's turn to clap his hands. With the two of them leading the group, they started working until one of the maids called them for dinner.

"Is your father joining us, Nobara-chan?" she asked Nobara.

"No, I've got a feeling he's either in a meeting right now or had just finished with one," Nobara smiled. They arrived at the dining room and, as they have already guessed, a long table greeted them inside.

"Eh, Nobara-san, you told us it's just you and your father here, why do you have so many seats?" Megane asked.

"That's just how it is with large houses, you idiot," Tsubasa whacked him.

"Do you often eat alone in this big table when your father is not yet home?" she asked Nobara, leaving the boys to bicker on their own.

"Yeah, he usually comes home either I just finished eating or when I'm already asleep," Nobara answered.

They did get to meet Nobara's father that night, who arrived just as they were about to finish dinner.

"It's okay, I already ate in a dinner meeting. Nobara, make sure you take care of the visitors. I'm going to my study for now, Rei and I still have some things to talk about," Nobara's father gave them a nod before going out of the dining room, his secretary, Rei, following behind him closely.

Nobara's father intimidated her a bit. He carried an authoritative aura with him, and he looked just like the tycoon he is. She shrugged it off and led the group back into the room again.

"Okay guys, let's take a few minutes of break since we just ate dinner. Those who are going to take a shower or change their clothes do so now," she clapped her hands before rummaging inside her own bag for her clothes.

She took a shower first then went to the bed with her laptop to check on her SNS while waiting for the guys who queued up on the use of the bathroom after her. It was Nobara's surprised scream that made her look up again.

"TSU-BA-SA! How many times do I need to tell you to change your clothes inside the bathroom?" she immediately turned her head away when she saw the reason for Nobara's scream.

"It was just the top," Tsubasa retorted back as he put on a shirt, then he started mumbling. "Damn that Hayate for making me rush."

"As if you haven't seen his body yet, Misaki-san," Kaname teased, reminding them all of the time when their dorm was caught on fire. "Plus we're all friends here. I think we really should just get used to this scene, I've got a feeling we'll be having these sleepovers more often."

"Our friendship hasn't reached that level of comfortableness yet, Kaname-kun," she argued back. "I don't think we'll ever get used to that show, it's just so awkward."

"Hmnn, between you and him, I think there's a high chance you two are gonna reach that stage soon," Kaname said mysteriously. As if on cue, Hayate came out of the bathroom, the same state as Tsubasa when he stepped out. Kaname instantly threw his towel at him. "Get inside, Hayate-kun, don't embarrass the girls."

As they had predicted, the sleepover didn't really gave them that much time to sleep. Every time they complete the report, they come up with another thing to change. It was around 3 am when she felt her energy start slipping away.

"I think that was already good. We should sleep now," she announced, her voice obviously sleepy.

"Yeah, we should. We really need it, you're even using Tsubasa as a pillow now," Kaname pointed out to her. That's when she noticed she'd been leaning on Tsubasa's back since their last dry run.

She immediately pulled herself away and stood up. "Let's sleep now, c'mon," she said and climbed the bed. Nobara went beside her and the guys started fighting over who gets to sleep at the outer side of the futons lined up on the ground.

"You can sleep in your room if you're not used to sleeping in the same room with guys, Nobara-chan," she said to Nobara when she noticed her carefully get in their bed.

"Don't worry about Misaki-san, she's already slept with Tsubasa anyway."

"Hayate-kun, that sounds so wrong!" almost all of them said at the same.

"Anyway, I prefer to be with you guys, it's the first time I actually had a sleepover," Nobara's happy smile was the last thing they saw before they turned off the lights.

* * *

"Good job, everyone. I think we did well," she said as soon as they got out of their classroom after their report.

"Want to celebrate before we go home?" Tsubasa suggested. Almost everyone immediately agreed.

"Is it okay if I pass today? I have to go somewhere," they all looked at Nobara curiously.

"Do you have a function with your father today?" they were all aware that Nobara's father often brings Nobara to gatherings.

"Uh, yeah," Nobara looked away from them. Just then, they saw a familiar car pull up in front of the campus gates. "There's my car, I'll go now. See you guys next week!"

"What about you, Kaname, Megane? We three might go grab a bite before we go home," Tsubasa then faced the two.

"Yeah, let's just do that," the two immediately agreed. They went their separate ways to get their stuff before meeting up again.

"Her father didn't seem to say anything about that this morning, though," she wondered to herself. They had a tense breakfast that morning with Nobara's father. He did wish them luck before they went but he didn't seem like he had anything else to say to Nobara.

She reached her apartment and didn't think too much about it anymore. She hurriedly packed up her things for the journey home then met up with the guys to have a quick snack at the burger joint before going to the train station with Tsubasa and Kaname.

* * *

"Misaki-chan, dinner time!" her mom called out. She came downstairs with her tablet in her hand. She was checking her SNS with it. Her mom took a peek before moving on to set the table. "And you tell me you have girl friends. Seriously, Misaki-chan, I would really be more relieved if what you're whispering about in front of that tablet is wondering who could that girl be lurking on your boyfriend, oh nevermind that, crush's profile, rather than those updates in groups."

She was checking updates in the group for Blueprint when she saw Kaname upload the photo of the five of them earlier in the burger joint.

"Mom, I am a normal human being in her college years, I assure you. It's just that making more out of my student years is my priority," she said with her palms raised in front of her mom. She then picked up her utensils and started eating to end the conversation. "Itadakimasu!"

Her mother just rolled her eyes at her. "More like being too workaholic."

* * *

Her weekly routine had always been going back to the city on Mondays at 7 am to reach her apartment at 9 am, then go to school before 10 am. She'll go back home either Friday or Saturday depending on events and SCA stuff.

That Monday, she got to the city pretty early, she reached her apartment by 8:30. But she got a surprise when she reached her door.

"Nobara-chan? Why are you here?" her eyes widened at the sight of Nobara. She didn't know what surprised her more, the fact that Nobara was here, or that Nobara was here with not just her schoolbag but also a large luggage as if she was going on a one week field trip.

* * *

So I'm a bit late today, but hey, I updated :) It's not that I forgot, it's just that I wasn't feeling well the whole day (no, I wasn't sick at all), and just didn't do anything at all until later in the evening, which is why I'm only posting this now. Anyway thank you for reaching this chapter, we still have a long way to go, I hope you're in for the ride, whether or not you tell me. To th1rd3ye, yes, I will continue to update this, no matter what :) Thank you for giving me your time to read and review. Mina-san, see you all next week!


	11. Chapter 11

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

"Nobara-chan? Why are you here?" she rushed over to her and held her both arms.

"Misaki-chan, can I stay over for a few days?" Nobara looked like she was almost going to cry. She invited her in first and gave her a glass of water.

"Look, Nobara-chan, I'm fine with you staying over, but why do you need to? Did you run away from home?" she asked. Nobara nodded. "Why? What happened with you and your father?"

Nobara looked away and checked her watch. "We still have class, maybe we should go now," she changed the topic.

She let out a sigh of defeat then stood up. "Let's go, but we'll talk about this later, okay?"

They went out of the apartment and headed for the university.

"Good morning. Oh, you two arrived together, that's a first," Tsubasa and Kaname were already in their classroom when they arrived.

"You're pretty early today, Nobara-san," Kaname added.

They looked at each other before facing the boys again. "I'm kind of staying over at Misaki-chan's place," Nobara told them.

The two looked at each other in confusion. "Why?"

"She hasn't told me the reason herself," she said and dismissed the topic. Still confused, the two guys just nodded and started talking about other things until the others and then the professor arrived.

"She only told me she ran away from home, she won't tell me the reason, but I think she fought with her dad," she told Tsubasa as they were in the queue in the cafeteria after class. They looked over at their table where the others are. Nobara was just like the usual, but she seemed obviously worried about something.

"Imagine, we were just at her house last week," Tsubasa said. "It can't be because of us, you think?"

"No, I don't think so," she tried remembering what they did in Nobara's house but she couldn't think of anything that would have made Nobara and her father argue. "She did seem excited to go home last Friday though."

She felt like she was on to something there but couldn't pinpoint it herself. Then their turn to order came and the thought completely went away from her.

* * *

"Nobara-chan, since there's two of us today, we should drop by the grocery," she said as they went out of their last class that day.

"She's a great cook, Nobara-san, ah, can I have dinner with you guys?" Tsubasa said.

"It's okay—"

"Not a chance, Tsubasa, don't try to make my house a restaurant," she gave him a look that said 'shut it'. "And besides, it's girls' night today."

Tsubasa just scratched his head, obviously not getting it.

She and Nobara went on to drop by the grocery to buy ingredients for dinner and rest of the week's meals.

"You don't need to help me today, Nobara-chan, just sit there for now," she smiled and started preparing the food. A little while later she was ready with a steaming pot of miso soup. She placed the pot in front of Nobara and sat across her. "Try it."

Nobara took a ladle of soup to her bowl and tasted it. "It tastes really good, Misaki-chan," soon Nobara was taking spoon after spoon of the soup.

"Calming, isn't it?" she said as she helped herself to a bowl of soup.

"Ah, I ate a lot! I'll do the dishes," Nobara was just about to stand up but she stopped her.

"Now we talk, Nobara-chan. I know I shouldn't pry if you don't want to talk about it, but I need to help you, Nobara-chan. You can stay for as long as you want but I need to know why you did this," she said. "Right now I'm the closest friend you got, am I not?"

Nobara took a deep breath before speaking. "My father's marrying me off. This month."

Her eyes grew as big as it could possibly be. "Woah, woah, wait up. Your father's marrying you off? No wonder you ran off. But there are still parents who do that these days? He's marrying you off to a son of a rich business partner, isn't he? But why so suddenly?"

Nobara bowed her head. "Because he found out I'm dating someone," Nobara clasped the edge of her shirt. "Rei-san."

Now even her mouth's agape. "What? You're dating someone? What's more, his secretary? The creepy-looking guy?"

"He's not creepy! But yeah, my father found that out, he didn't like it at all, and said he'd rather marry me off to someone he wants for me rather than him," Nobara was in tears now. She lifted her face to look at her with panic written all over her face. "Misaki-chan, I'd rather get married right now to Rei-san!"

She raised her arms in front of her to make Nobara calm down, and herself too. "Wait, recap. You're dating someone, and that is your father's secretary? Your father found out, he didn't like him, and now he's trying to marry you off to someone? Okay, that's too much to digest. But what did your father do to him? He didn't get him beat up, did he?"

"Rei-san's been Father's secretary for a really long time. He said he's really good at business that Father made sure he can keep him as his secretary. He can't really kick him out so he instead made him go work on our business abroad. My father's not the style to beat up people, he'll probably use his connections to have a hostage, like the orphanage that's really important to Rei-san," at that it was Nobara's eyes' time to grow. "Oh, gosh, I hope my father didn't do anything to the children there."

"Your father sure is scary. But what do you intend to do now? I'm pretty sure your father would have found you by now, your chauffeur knows my place after all," she asked, still haven't recovered from everything Nobara told her. "I'm not sure what we'll do if he shows up here tomorrow morning complete with bodyguards to take you away."

Nobara shook her head. "He won't. He's a man full of pride. He's the type who goes 'you're the one who left, you should go back yourself'. He knows I don't really have a place to go to. I don't really have that much money since I rely more on my cards which he probably had cut by now. But I won't be coming back unless I'm already married to Rei-san. The moment he's back here, we'll go get married right away."

"Nobara-chan!" she immediately stood up and held her in both shoulders. "Calm down. Your father may not be right about marrying you off, but you should rethink your thoughts also. That's the problem with you, you're really rash once you panic. Let's think of this rationally, okay?"

While everything hasn't fully registered in her mind, she knew that she had to keep Nobara grounded. "Look, Nobara-chan, he's still your father. He probably just wants what's best for you. You have to understand that given your family's situation, your father really won't approve of him. I think you know that yourself which is why you hid it all this time. Look, you're even trying to run off with him, then what? Your father will fire him, and he won't land a job, anywhere. Even without your father directly barring him, no one would dare get someone who's taken off the daughter of a tycoon. And you'd probably quit school too."

It took them some time before they dropped the conversation and started cleaning up. Nobara was at the sink washing dishes when she saw how ever so carefully she held the plates.

"You haven't washed a single dish your entire life, have you?" she took a plate and the sponge and showed her how it's done. "Once you get the hang of it you'll be able to do this faster."

She could totally see why Nobara's father is very picky about who his daughter dates. She shook her head and continued cleaning up the table.

* * *

"Tsubasa, what's your family like?"

Tsubasa looked at her then back to the rack in front of him. "Why ask so suddenly?"

"I just realized I really don't know much about you guys, and we've been together for a year now," she sighed. She put down the shopping basket she was holding and looked through the pencil rack. They were shopping for supplies for both their schoolwork and orgwork. "You've only told me that you have one sister. What's your family like?"

"Well, if you really wanna know. My father's the take it easy type. He just goes along with what my mom says, which is why I can't believe it when my grandfather told us that my father used to be part of a gang. But he was serious about swimming and never really got into big trouble that would cost him that. My grandfather was really surprised when he found out he got my mom pregnant before she even finished college. My mother's the complete opposite. She gives a fuss about everything, even when I first went to live in the dorm. She's devoted her life to raising us after she had to quit tennis. Oh, and it took her years to be able to properly cook simple recipes. You're really better than her at cooking," he chuckled at that.

"What about your sister, what is she like?" their basket was slowly being filled and her list being complete.

"She's almost like a copy of my mom, we have the same eyes, but everyone says she's got even her brain. She doesn't know how to cook also, and we just hope she takes after Mom with gradually learning even just the basics. And she's not really good at school besides PE. She's a track and field runner, but if that's not what she's gonna do, then she'll probably sing, like an idol. We're just a bit worried about her being a bit of an airhead, especially since she's got dad's easygoing personality," she realized from the way he talked that he cares a lot about his sister.

"I can see it runs in the family," she grinned at him. She already have an idea of how easygoing his father and sister was just by looking at him. They went to the counter with their basket and paid for it, afterwards they stopped by a cake shop to eat.

"How did you even get to that thinking, anyway?" he asked her.

"It's because of Nobara-chan. She told me why she and her dad fought. I realized I didn't know much about her, and also you guys. She'd been my listening ear during that time about Ryotaro-kun, but I didn't realize she's got problems too," she tapped the spoon when he scooped a piece of his cake with the strawberry topping. "I get the strawberry."

"That is so unfair, why didn't we just get the same cake if you're taking the strawberry anyway?" they ordered one slice of strawberry cake and one slice of chocolate cake so that they could try both.

"Then get the chocolate topping," she pointed out at the topping on the chocolate slice. "But that is so funny, my mom was complaining just a while ago about me not having any boy problems at this age. I'd rather not have any problems like that if it's like Nobara-chan's."

"So they fought over a guy?"

"Yeah, basically. I'll take home a slice of this cake for Nobara-chan," she stood up and went to the counter to order a to-go slice of cake.

* * *

"Nobara-chan, you're back. I brought you cake, it's in the ref," she said when Nobara came back that evening. "How was the orphanage?"

"It's fine, it doesn't seem like my father did anything related to it any way for now, but they didn't know that Rei-san is not in the country right now, the last time they saw him was a few weeks back," Nobara answered as she checked the cake at the ref. "I'll eat it after dinner. What are you making? I'll help."

"Sure, come here. I'm making beef rolls," she asked her to cut the carrot while she cut the beef. She was proceeding smoothly when she noticed Nobara was having a hard time cutting the carrot. She smiled and showed her how to do it properly. "You never worked in a kitchen, did you?"

Nobara shyly nodded. "I never experienced baking either. Every Valentine's Day, while every girl in class handed out handmade chocolates, I didn't give out anything, or would just buy one for whoever I had a crush on. In high school, while girls would bake cakes for the guy they liked, I'd just be looking from afar."

"You can always learn. It's not like I was born knowing how to cook. My mom taught me little by little until I tried out different stuff on my own," she told her. They continued talking about those kinds of things as they cooked, and she taught Nobara ways in the kitchen as they did. "Ah, it's really nice to have moments like this with a girl friend. I've been with mostly the guys the entire year I kind of forgot how it is to have a girls' day. Now I miss my friends during high school."

They ate happily that night, both of them temporarily setting aside the current issues.

Nobara stayed with her the entire week until it was time for her to go back to Shizuoka.

"You sure you don't want to go with me?" she offered when they got back to her apartment that Friday.

"It's okay. I'll have to face my father sooner or later. Don't worry, I'll keep your words in mind and try not to be rash," Nobara assured her as she packed her own things too. They went their separate ways after getting out of her apartment building, Nobara on her way back home and she on her way to the train station to meet up with Tsubasa and Hayate.

"What about Nobara-san?" as she expected, the two immediately asked her.

"She decided to go back home now, her father will surely take her back, but I don't know if they'll make up. Probably not," she answered. They boarded their train and talked about it no more.

* * *

"Well guys, we're going ahead!" she and Tsubasa waved goodbye to the others before heading out of the campus gates that Monday after their last class. They were going to an architecture firm's exhibit which Tono himself asked them to go to.

"What do you think about the firm?" Tsubasa asked her as they started walking to the subway.

"They seem to have a certain style, but as a firm I like them so far," she answered. She opened her tablet to check the website again. "I'm more excited to see the street where most houses were designed by them than the exhibit though."

"Yeah, amazing how they got all of those residents design their houses for them," Tsubasa agreed. She kept her tablet back in her bag as they neared the subway. "Nobara-san doesn't seem like she's in good terms with her dad already, does she?"

"Yeah, I just hope it doesn't drag out, but honestly, I don't know how they'll ever agree on their issue," she said. She's still the only person who knows what happened to Nobara and her father.

Tsubasa paused for a moment then faced her again. "More important is that we're here to support her. So right now, let's focus on the exhibit, I think we'll both have fun in this. It'll probably give you a better insight for your lineup."

She agreed and they boarded the train going to the place. Just a few stops later, they were already there. They immediately set to finding the exhibit place which they easily found.

"Ooh, they have good designs, Tsubasa," she said as they looked at each design in the exhibit. There was also a portion dedicated to the firm, telling its history, its people and organization.

"You two are the ones from SCA, right?" just then, a man they've seen in one of the photos displayed in the exhibit greeted them. He is one of the founders of the firm. "My friend, an alumnus from that school and organization, told me SCA was sending two students. I heard you two were researching about business in architecture."

They introduced themselves then asked for a short interview which the man accepted. After a while, they ended that and then proceeded to the street they were talking about earlier.

"Gosh, the houses are beautiful, Tsubasa. The houses made the street so pretty," she exclaimed when they got there. It was just a block long but it was pretty. They stopped in front of a house with a small wrought iron gate. "This must be the first house which asked to be renovated by them. No wonder everyone followed suit."

The entire street was full of houses they knew had been there for centuries. When this house decided to renovate, they asked the firm to do it and the firm gave them a French-inspired modern style. The other houses in the same block and also the ones across soon followed suit. What resulted was a street full of houses that had different contemporary styles, making it full of character.

"This street is like something you'd see in those Paris getaway romantic movies," she said. "Look, even that café was designed by them, right?"

They went over and saw the unmistakable signature of an architect from that firm over at the window that was filled with other words relating to the café.

"Let's try this place," Tsubasa suggested and she agreed. They went inside the café and examined the interior as they ordered, then took a table outside.

They took a sip from their coffees as they checked the photos they took earlier. Just then, a text message from her mom popped up. They both laughed when they read it.

"She won't really be happy to know that while I **am **out, I am not on a date but rather on research," she grinned. Her mom was reminding her of some things to buy and to take a break from work and instead go out with a guy.

"Just tell her this is a date and show her the pictures. Nothing says it's about work anyway," he joked. "Speaking of your mom, it's your turn. What's your family like?"

"Hmnn, my family? Well I'm an only child, so there's just my father and my mother. My father's an engineer, so he's always out somewhere. He's the protective type, I guess that's because he only has a daughter. My mom's a teacher, but she's so open that, as you can see, she always pushes me to go on dates because she thinks I'm too workaholic. Ironic, isn't it?" she took a bite of the pie before continuing. "But what I like about that is I can tell everything to her. She's strict when she wants to be, but she can also be supportive like a best friend."

They talked about more things that it made her realize they really still do not know some things about the other despite being together for the entire year.

* * *

"Let's go now, we'd better head back before it gets too dark," he said and stood up. Misaki followed suit and they started walking back to the subway. They were passing by a street when Misaki's eyes lit up.

"How can I forget? This place is known to sell pretty flowers in the city," it was then he noticed that the store-filled street was dominated by flower shops. Misaki's hand pulled him to a particular stall. "The carnations are so pretty. Did you give carnations to your mom on Mother's Day? I got her ones from our city but it wasn't as pretty as the ones here."

"I almost forgot to but my sister reminded me so we bought it together," he scratched his head. "This has really become a sightseeing task rather than researching, isn't it? You like flowers? Doesn't really match." WHACK! BAM!

"They're pretty," she glared at him before going back to looking at all the flowers. "Don't you think it's ironic? They're so pretty but so frail, they don't last long."

"What's more ironic is a girl as violent as you floating around those frail flowers right now—" WHACK! This time Misaki seemed really offended. She stood up and started walking ahead.

He scratched his head thinking of what to do now. Coffee won't calm her down since they just had it earlier. That's when he looked around and an idea popped in his head. "I'm sorry, I guess I went overboard, I'll get you what you want, even if it's a bouquet."

Misaki's head immediately turned back with her eyes lit up. "Really?" he nodded. She immediately ran back to the stall they were at earlier and pointed to the pink tulips.

"Is it okay if I pick the tulips? I'm not getting a dozen, just a few."

He nodded. "Do you like tulips the most?" she nodded with a childish smile. He told the florist to wrap a bunch of tulips prettily and paid for it.

The florist handed him the flowers when it was done being wrapped. "You two make a great couple, sir." They looked at each other and realized **he** was giving her **flowers.** He scratched his head and gave it to her anyway.

They headed out the street again, and he noticed Misaki beaming while looking at the flowers. "You like it that much?" he asked, amused.

"Yeah, so much that I hope I can look at them for a much longer time. Thank you so much, Tsubasa," she smiled at him gratefully.

"Wait, stand there," they already reached the end of the flower-selling street. He went in front of her and took her phone. "Hold it up, I'll take a picture."

He took a picture of her with the bouquet and the background of the flower-lined street. "There, now you can look at it any time you want even after it wilts." They took another picture, this time together.

"Once I upload all these, I'm pretty sure we'll be the talk of the entire college," she said as she looked at the pictures.

"Tono will never stop bothering us, most likely. But you can show that to your mom too, say you went on a date with someone handsome who even got you flowers," they both laughed. They reached the subway and took the train back to Tokyo City.

They had just gotten off the train when Misaki's phone rang.

"Hello, Nobara-chan? What is it? What, Rei-san's gone?!"

* * *

One my favorite chapters for this fic. A scene like this wasn't included in what I planned for at the start, it just came out as I started the Nobara arc. Did you like it? I hope you did. Anyway, I'm behind by a few hours in uploading again because I was reviewing for a major exam coming up. Well, it shouldn't have taken much time but I kept getting distracted by other things. I would like to ask though, what do you think of the story progression so far? Do you have any suggestions? If you do, please do leave a review for me :) Thank you again, th1rd3ye for your support, I really appreciate it, thank you too to those who listed this again in their alerts and favorites, and thank you too to you, reader, for giving this fic and me your time. See you all next week!


	12. Chapter 12

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice. For this particular chapter, I also mentioned a couple of lines from the song, You've Got a Friend sung by James Taylor. I do not own those lines in any way.

* * *

"First, calm down, Nobara-chan, and tell me what happened," Misaki said to Nobara on the phone. She motioned for Tsubasa to wait for a while. Nobara spoke on the other line but was obviously panicking that she didn't understand a thing. "Okay, we're not getting anywhere with this. Look, Tsubasa and I just came back, do you want to meet somewhere? Okay, I'll wait for you there. Nobara-chan needs someone right now, I'm going to meet her."

"Should I come with you? By the way you talked to her and by the way she sounded, I can't go back like this, I'm worried too," he asked her. She thought for a few seconds before answering.

"Alright, you can come with me, I think Nobara-chan needs more people right now," she agreed and led him to the café she agreed to meet Nobara at.

They arrived first. They took a seat on a corner of the café and ordered tea for Nobara and her, while Tsubasa just got a latte.

"Did she and her father fight again? Will she be able to get out of her house then?" Tsubasa asked her. "Wait, you mentioned Rei-san, that's her father's secretary, right? The creepy-looking guy?"

"I don't know if I should explain this to you instead of Nobara-chan, but since I already brought you here anyway, might as well," she took a sip of her tea and placed the cup back down. "To summarize it, Nobara-chan is dating that creepy-looking guy and her father opposes so they argued about that. Now the problem is that guy is gone, that's what she said, but I don't know why. She's panicking about it."

"Did her father fire him? Send him away? Worst case, did he, you know," he motioned the kill sign with his fist following a line across his neck.

"I know that what he did initially was to send him away abroad, but I don't think he'll go that far, at least as I gathered from how Nobara-chan described her father," just then, the café door chimes rang. They both looked at the entrance and saw Nobara going towards them. She immediately took the seat in front of them. "Nobara-chan, I brought Tsubasa here because he's really worried about you, is it okay?"

Nobara looked burdened for a while but nodded.

"Okay, now tell us what happened, what do you mean Rei-san's gone?" she asked as she motioned for her to take the tea.

"My father told me that he won't be marrying me off anymore because Rei-san resigned from his work," Nobara told them. "But he didn't contact me at all. I'm at a loss now as to where he is."

"Did you check the orphanage?"

"Yeah, I tried calling them to check but they said he still hasn't dropped by. My father didn't tell me any other detail, not even if he already came back to the country," Nobara took a sip of the tea.

"I have a gist of what's happening, but what confuses me more is the fact that your father is actually allowing you to do as you please. Don't you think that's weird?" Tsubasa spoke. They both looked at him.

"He did ask first who I'm going to meet. Do you think my father," Nobara looked alarmed. "Did he make him agree not to contact me ever again?"

"You didn't think of that as a possibility?" Tsubasa said nonchalantly. She thought about it and he made sense. While this was something that seemed to only happen in dramas, it was the most likely scenario.

"No, I didn't. When he first found out about us he just told us to break it off and then sent him abroad, he still allowed me to go to the orphanage and all, and he didn't even fire him on the spot," Nobara said, but was obviously getting doubtful of what she was saying.

"Well, the fact that you didn't first think of that might mean that it isn't something your father would do," Tsubasa said.

"Wait, take note of that, he **resigned**," a thought suddenly popped in her mind. "Your father didn't fire him. Unless your father lied to you, he quit on his own accord. He might have done this so that you and your father can make up. If that's the case, he almost succeeded, your father did say he's not going to marry you off."

"But he might have threatened him to not contacting me at all before he allowed his resignation," Nobara said dejectedly. "Whatever the case is, why did he agree? Why is he not contacting me?"

"It is better to lie low for now, Nobara-chan. Whether he plans to get back with you or not, the best thing right now is to stay away. Your father took you back in and stopped the marriage plans. But he will most likely wrap a safer guard around you to make sure you don't date, let alone elope, with someone he doesn't approve of," she said.

Nobara agreed to that. "Yeah, he keeps tabs on where I go now."

"It's getting late. Nobara-chan you better go home for now. Just keep calm okay, don't do anything rash. I think Rei-san will contact you, no matter what. Just," she hesitated before continuing, "expect that he may or may not get back with you. Contact me anytime when something comes up, okay?"

"Nobara-san, we're also here for you. Not just me, but everyone in the group, is worried about you, don't hesitate to call us too if you need us," Tsubasa said. Nobara nodded to both of them and gave them a weak smile. They all stood up and started heading out of the café. "I'll hold that."

Tsubasa took the flowers from her so that she can sling her bag on her shoulder.

"Oh, what are the flowers for, by the way?" Nobara then noticed the flowers.

"Ah, Tsubasa bought them for me earlier. There was a flower district in that place," she told her excitedly, momentarily forgetting what they had come here for.

That was the first time Nobara had let out a giggle. "You really like flowers, don't you, Misaki-chan?" she then faced Tsubasa. "You two look like you went out on an anniversary date."

That got them to immediately step away from each other. And then Tsubasa jokingly wrapped an arm around her shoulder for a second. "If this makes you laugh, Nobara-san." WHACK!

* * *

"Did Nobara-san text you after she got home?" he asked Misaki the following day.

She shook her head. "Haven't heard from her. She wouldn't have jumped off her balcony, would she?" she was worried.

"Misaki! Nobara-san won't do that," he got horrified by the thought. "Oh, there she is."

They both breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Nobara arriving at the same time with Hayate.

"Oi, Tsubasa, Kaname, why didn't you tell me you guys were going? I almost got late," Hayate complained as he yawned.

"We got up late too," Kaname scratched his head. There were still a few minutes so they all went on to talk about different things. Hayate started telling them about the latest game he finished last night while Anna and Nonoko, who had just arrived with Megane, listened to Kaname talk about bears. Nobara had pulled Misaki away to tell her something.

He looked over Hayate's shoulder to see them and by the look on Nobara's face, he knew something was up again. The professor arrived a little while later and they scrambled back to their seats.

"What happened?" he whispered to Misaki.

She looked left and right before closing in on his ear. "She confronted her father last night, apparently even her father doesn't know where he is, or rather didn't keep tab on him after he released him, and told him not to dare go after Nobara-chan."

"Is he still not picking up his phone?" he whispered back.

"The service is not available anymore. He must have discarded that number," they both looked at Nobara who was in between Nonoko and Kaname. Her mind was obviously not in the lecture.

"Oi, Nobara-san looks so sad, do you two know why?" Megane poked him from behind.

"Yeah, it's kind of sensitive, just be supportive of her for now," he whispered to him and did his best to shush him for the professor was starting to take notice of them.

"Even you know why, Tsubasa? You trying to be everyone's best friend? You're Kaname's best friend, you're Misaki-san's guy best friend, and now Nobara-san's too?"

"Guy over there at the back, do you have some questions?" the professor then noticed them and called out on Megane.

"Uh, why are roofs designed to point upwards?" that question made the professor's eyebrow twitch and the whole class chuckling.

"Nice save back there, Megane-kun," Kaname said when they got out. "You totally didn't look like you got caught not listening to the prof."

"No kidding, no matter how random what you said was, to be able to think that fast," Hayate whistled.

"Nah, I've been wondering about that since I was a kid. Why do you think I'm in Architecture for?" Megane said. They all laughed at that. They got to the cafeteria and took a table first since it was lunch time for most students.

He, Kaname, Misaki, and Nobara went to order first while the others waited.

"They're planning something, aren't they?" Misaki whispered to them guys while Nobara was busy looking at the available food. They looked over the others who were huddled together talking about something.

"Nobara-san, are you eating only that?" Kaname quickly said when Nobara turned to them. The two of them immediately shifted their eyes to Nobara's tray. "Get another half cup of rice, that's how Tsubasa releases his stress. And dessert too."

"Hey, what does my eating have to do with this?" his eyes grew. "And I don't add another half cup of rice. I add **2** cups, dude. But yeah, Nobara-san, eating dessert too helps forget worries."

"I'm not really sure that's something to be proud of, Tsubasa," Misaki shook her head and went ahead of them. "I guess having problems is not good for you then. All that exercise you get in playing soccer might not be able to counter the consequences if you overeat when you de-stress."

"Hey, I still got a good enough body, I might not have those abs you girls drool at in magazines but my body's pretty decent. Some of the guys we play with even got a bit of beer bellies," he and Kaname laughed at that.

"Yeah, yeah, I've seen it all, haven't I?" Misaki rolled her eyes at him. "Not much to look at, that body of yours."

"I might even have a flatter stomach than you," he teased her. "Look at that serving!" WHACK!

"What about you, Nobara-chan? What do you prefer for a guy's body?" she asked Nobara.

That got Nobara thinking. "Never thought, but I guess I'd go for someone who's got a fit body, not really the muscle man type, just someone who regularly goes to the gym and exercises enough to be physically in shape."

"You're describing him," Misaki smiled at Nobara.

"I guess I am," Nobara smiled weakly. They went back to their table after paying for their food.

"Guys, your turn," Kaname said. The group broke apart but remained at the table.

"Do you guys want to go to the matsuri (A/N: Japanese festivals hosted by shrines and temples) tomorrow? The shrine near the campus is holding one, I think we should go visit it to have fun, and maybe wish us well for our upcoming midterm exams," Megane said.

"Nobara-chan, you'll come too, right?" Anna held Nobara's hands.

"Truth is, we're kind of worried about you, you seem too down lately, even if you can't say why that is so to us, we want to cheer you up somehow," Nonoko said.

He, Misaki, and Kaname looked at each other with smiles on their faces.

"If you want, we can personally ask your father to allow you to go with us," Misaki tapped Nobara's shoulder.

"Let go of your worries even for a bit, Nobara-san," Kaname said while he nodded in agreement.

Nobara was in tears now. "Thank you, guys, and sorry for worrying you too much." They all huddled at her and comforted her.

"But you'll go with us, right?" Nonoko confirmed. Nobara nodded beneath her tears.

"Ahh, we can be dramatic at times," Hayate deadpanned. Just then, his stomach growled.

"And that's our cue to line up for food now," Megane said and led the way to the counter. Nobara, Anna, and Hayate followed.

"Are you that touched?" Misaki grinned at Nobara whose tears were still streaming. She placed an arm over her shoulder and side-hugged the crying girl.

The others soon came back with their food and they started eating lunch while talking about what they'll do tomorrow.

* * *

They headed to the shrine where the matsuri is being held after class the following day.

"Look, the kids are wearing yukatas," Misaki excitedly pointed out when they reached the grounds.

"My mom used to make me and my sister wear those whenever we go to a matsuri. She always signs us up for the mikoshi parade too," he said.

"They're so cute," Anna and Nonoko giggled.

"There are a lot of stalls, we should try every kind of food sold here," Megane said, looking at the endless line of food stalls.

"Hayate, we should see if you're a game master in non-virtual games too," Kaname said to Hayate. There were also a lot of game stalls in the festival grounds.

"You better watch out on that challenge, Kaname, Hayate's got a collection of prizes from every matsuri in our town," he warned him. "Even Nobara-san's guest room might not be enough to hold them all."

Nobara's eyes widened. "Eh? What did you do to all of those, Hayate-kun?"

"Gave them to the kids of my old man's men," Hayate said nonchalantly. "I smell takoyaki."

They all looked as Hayate flowed naturally to a stall by following the aroma coming from it. They all followed him to the takoyaki stall and joined him in eating.

"Hayate, I challenge you to the ultimate matsuri game, kingyo sukui!" Kaname declared as soon as he finished his takoyaki. Hayate had just barely gulped his last piece of takoyaki when Kaname dragged him to the nearest stall of goldfish scooping game.

"Let's have a bet on how many games Kaname will lose to Hayate?" he offered to the others.

"I want one of those cute rabbits, let's play that game," Anna said. All four girls agreed and went to the ring-tossing game stall just beside the kingyo sukui stall where Kaname and Hayate were.

He and Megane followed the group, watching from between the stalls.

"I bet at least 5 fishes for Hayate," he said to Megane.

"Ei, is he that good? Kaname looks like he'll be good at this since he confidently challenged Hayate," Megane said disbelievingly. "I bet Kaname will win with at least 3. Winner treats today."

They tapped hands then fist bumped to seal the deal. They then looked at the other stall where the girls where all holding a set of rings to throw on the cups.

"I want that pink pig," Misaki pointed at the small pig stuffed toy. Her eyes were burning with competitiveness.

"Suits you, Misaki," he teased.

"Want me to fit your head to these tiny rings?" she retorted.

"No thanks," he quickly deflected.

The girls started playing and as she had said, Misaki got the pig, on her first try at that. Nobara on the other hand couldn't do it.

"I forgot it's your first time in a festival like this," Misaki said. She quickly showed to Nobara how it's done. Nobara finally got her cat keychain at her third try.

They looked back at the goldfish stall and got a surprise. "Not even 5 minutes yet but Hayate-kun already has 4 fishes?" Megane exclaimed. "What is he gonna do with all those? If those were fish we could grill we'd have a feast for dinner already."

"Told you," he chuckled. "Looks like I can eat a lot of those karaage. Hey, let's go to other stalls, those two will be at it until Hayate gets at least 10 goldfishes."

The others agreed and they went to see the other stalls.

"Ooh, I want a crepe," Misaki said when they saw a crepe stand.

"Let's get food later. We'll buy all kinds then have a picnic later," Megane suggested. They all agreed and the girls just bought cotton candy to eat as they went along.

They were at a shooting stall when Kaname and Hayate caught up to them. "Who won?"

"Him of course. But seriously, how is it possible to catch 11 fishes from a single net?" Kaname complained.

He laughed. "What did you do to all those?" he asked Hayate.

"Gave each to a kid," Hayate answered.

"Let's play this game next, Hayate," Kaname said when he saw the shooting game.

"Oh, I can't do this," Misaki said as she checked the gun she was holding. "Nobara-chan, you're quite good at this."

"My father's a good marksman, he brought me to firing ranges a few times," Nobara smiled then went back to shooting. She hit her third target in a row, winning her a stuffed panda.

"I want that white bear," Misaki pouted. "I need to hit three times in a row, but I can't even hit one."

"Tsubasa-kun, you should try this," Megane said to him. He was also playing, aiming to get an action figure.

He went to Misaki's spot and took the gun from her. "How many did you need again?"

"Three," she said to him.

"Let's see," he said as he examined the standing targets. He shot his first target which easily fell down. He followed shooting the second and the third, getting the white bear for Misaki.

"Ei, this guy's no fun, he's being cool again," Megane said, shaking his head.

"What is it that Tsubasa-kun can't do anyway?" Nobara said.

"Cooking," Misaki immediately answered.

"Being neat," Kaname followed. Misaki agreed. "That's so right."

Just then, Hayate quickly shot 5 targets in succession. The stall owner had no choice but to give him one of the best prizes, which was a really huge bear. "If I shoot down another target, will I get that action figure?" he pointed to a trophy-sized action figure. He recognized it as one of the characters in the video game they played in the dorm. The owner nodded nervously then Hayate shot down another target immediately.

"Hayate-kun, you sure you're in the right course?" Kaname jokingly asked.

"What did I tell you all, Hayate's a game master through and through," he said. "Let's go raid the food stalls now then have that picnic."

They agreed to separate and went to different stalls. A little while later they were all together again on the grassy grounds, dumping all the food they bought on a picnic mat.

"Who brought a mat?" he asked as he and Kaname settled down with them.

"We bought it, there's a stall selling one there," Misaki answered. "Did anyone check if there's gonna be a fireworks show tonight?"

"I think the show's for Friday, but they'll probably light a few today," Megane answered. "Whoo, this is a total pigging out session!"

They really did buy every available food in the stalls, down to the children's treats. "What a weird dinner," Misaki said, but she was the one to grab something first as soon as they finished taking a few group pictures.

"Nobara-chan, how's your first matsuri experience?" Nonoko asked as they ate. They all looked at Nobara.

"It was so fun, thanks to you guys," Nobara smiled.

"We're glad you had fun, we hope it helped lift up your spirit even just a bit," Anna said as she held Nobara's hand. That's when Nobara started tearing up again.

"I'm so sorry for being such a crybaby, and for making you guys worry," Nobara said amidst her tears. She then started telling the whole story, finally opening up to the group. "Thank you for caring so much for me."

The girls did a group hug together while they just looked and patted the girls gently.

"This is supposed to be a happy day. You should have brought your guitar, Kaname-kun, picnics always have a jamming session," Megane said.

"Oh yeah, sing us a song, Kaname-kun," the girls agreed.

"I think I have an instrument app in my tablet, want to use that one?" Misaki offered. Kaname agreed and took Misaki's tablet and started singing. Pretty soon Megane and Kaname were up dancing wackily and all of them laughing and clapping and singing along.

"Kaname, stop dancing, have pity on your own body and on us too," he was practically rolling over laughing.

"Hey," he saw Hayate talk to Nobara who was in the farthest end of their big picnic mats from the corner of his eye but he didn't hear what he said. "I kind of understand what you're going through. I've got a control-freak for a father too. But what I know from that is, you should just listen to him for now, even if you don't understand what he's thinking. We're not sure if they're actually right, but they're doing what they think is right, so just follow that for now."

Then he went back to his original spot and settled down to chomp down food again, not giving a chance for Nobara to say even a slight word of thanks.

"I don't know what he said to you, but you should probably listen to him," he then went beside her. They both looked at Hayate chomp down food, not giving a care about the really hilarious scene of Kaname and Megane's dancing. "You got the same kind of father, maybe he got it even worse. He almost wasn't allowed to take the course of his liking, much less go out of our town. He had to defeat all of his father's men to prove his worth."

"Defeat his father's men?" Nobara looked at him in confusion.

"His father's the head of a yakuza group," he said. Nobara immediately understood. "He's a good fighter, and he also knows different kinds of martial arts, his father has high expectations, so it was a surprise when he said he's going to college and he's taking up Architecture. I think he kept it a secret when he took the entrance exams. I don't know when he decided he's going to take this, but he's got the talent for it, he designed most of his class' exhibits in school fairs when they realized he was good at it."

"Does he not want to succeed his father then?" Nobara asked.

"I'm not sure, but he's sticking to him, even though his mother's here in the city," he answered. He tapped her shoulder. "We should join them."

"Oi, Tsubasa, you play this time," Kaname passed him the tablet and laid down when he found a free space.

He took Kaname's original spot but took a seat. He doesn't have any plans on doing the wacky dance just like Kaname did. "I don't know how to play the guitar that much, so we stick to simpler songs with me."

Megane also sat down and they turned to a jamming session. Everyone was clapping along when he made eye contact with Misaki. She silently pointed out to Nobara's place again. This time Kaname was beside her. They couldn't hear what they were talking about, but they knew Kaname was good-naturedly offering support to Nobara.

A little while late Kaname pulled Nobara to join them. Nobara sat beside Misaki while Kaname took the tablet from him. "Okay, I'm back, whoo!" Kaname cheered for himself. "Tsubasa, get that box, use that to beat."

He did and Kaname started playing through Misaki's tablet. "Kaname-kun can even have a full-blown jamming session with just a tablet," Nobara commented as they clapped along.

"_You just call out my name_," Kaname sang. They all joined in and looked at Nobara.

"She's crying again," Misaki laughed as Nobara tried to hide under Misaki's arm.

"_Y__o__u__'__ve got a friend_," they ended that night with smiles on their faces, with friends that they realized just then will be their wall of support through times of need.

They walked out of the festival grounds and saw Nobara off first. Her chauffeur was already waiting for her outside.

"You sure you don't want me to drop you off?" she offered one last time before getting inside the car.

"It's okay. It's late, we know your father's stricter with you this time, you should go now," Kaname answered. Nobara got in and Kaname closed the door for her, but Nobara kept her window open.

"Just remember to call me immediately if you need me," Misaki said as they waved goodbye. They made sure the car was out of their sight before going on their way. They started walking back, the six of them going back to the campus and Misaki to her apartment, which was also on the way.

Just then, he felt a hand lightly hold on his arm.

He looked beside him with a raised eyebrow. "Why?" he asked Misaki.

She just smiled. "I'm so glad you sat beside me that first day. I'm really thankful that I became friends with you. I guess I'm also happy that I became your 'partner'."

He smiled too, fully understanding her. "Would we all become a close group like this if that day happened differently?"

"What if you wrote a different description for you dream house?"

He shook his head a little. "No I wouldn't have, I've always wanted that kind of house. What if **you** wrote differently?"

"I wouldn't have too. That was the very first idea I had when I first knew I was going to take Architecture."

Just then, Kaname and the others who were walking ahead of them looked back. "Stop being dramatic over there and just follow what Narumi-sensei keeps on saying. Just get married!"

* * *

First off, I want to apologize for not being able to upload last week, I was really sick since Thursday that I was totally tied to my bed the whole weekend. I decided to wait until today to upload since I didn't want to disrupt my fanfiction schedule. But yeah, I'm back with Chapter 12, I hope you all liked it. Thank you again to those who are reading this, and to those who wrote this in their lists, and to those who reviewed. See you all next week!


	13. Chapter 13

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

"Nobara-chan still isn't okay, is she?" she sighed as she looked at Nobara who was seated on the corner of the sofa. A project team from Community projects was with her to discuss finances but her mind was obviously straying from time to time.

Tsubasa glanced at Nobara then went back to his laptop. "Well she hasn't heard from him after all. At least she's getting better. She's able to focus now whereas before, she couldn't listen properly to class."

"Yeah, she was also able to really study for the exams. I was afraid she'd prepare for it halfheartedly, like how she did with outputs when it first happened," she told him. They were in the inner office of the clubroom, where a small conference table was. "I wonder what did happen to the guy, though. She really hasn't heard from him."

"I think he purposely did not show up to her. Nobara-san's father did send bodyguards around Nobara-san for the past few weeks to make sure he won't get near her, after he resigned," she cringed when she remembered that. Apparently, after a week of complete silence from Rei, her father got afraid that she might do something drastic, like suicide or run off or elope with the guy, so he sent bodyguard to watch over Nobara.

"At least now there's only the chauffeur, but I kind of pity him. He really has to wait for her all day, unlike before when she just has to call him to fetch her while he rests at home," she said. Right now Nobara's chauffeur might be in the parking area, just waiting for Nobara.

Saki then arrived, straight from a class. "Hi, I'm here guys. Ryuu-kun, I'm already here, let's start this meeting," she called over the project head Ryuu, who was at the balcony. He came inside and joined them at the table. "So we're down to the last few weeks before the big event, how are you guys? I heard juniors just had an exam this week."

"Yeah we just did. It's actually the reason this project is the perfect thing for our sched, we've got a down time before the finals. When this is over we can focus on acads again," Ryuu answered. "Anyway I think our team's ready. Currently some of our staff are out to check on different things. Harada, can you show senpai the final program?"

She opened her tablet and gave it to Saki, who read it and nodded as she did. "Make sure the slide presentations are in by next week, okay? And check that they work on the laptop that you'll use. What about venue preparations? What did Creatives say?"

"Some of our staff are out with them to pick up tarps and other stuff for the visuals. Back up plans for projectors, screens, and such are complete. Finance had also paid for the venue reservation. Creatives said they're sending final layout tonight," she replied.

"As for the final lineup of speakers, we continue to contact them even after they had given us their okay. Andou is set to contact them again on Monday to remind them about the slide presentations," Ryuu said.

Tsubasa then showed Saki his laptop. "We already finalized the handouts since they did send me their notes ahead of time. We're having these printed next Friday, to be picked up on Saturday."

"Okay, looks like we're almost ready for this, keep it up, and keep me updated," Saki nodded her head approvingly.

They wrapped up the meeting and prepared to go home. They stood up and went out to the common area of the clubroom.

Tsubasa tapped Hayate who was sleeping at the couch as he picked up his bag which was on the floor by Hayate's feet. They proceeded to go out, nodding at the others, to Nobara in particular.

* * *

"Tsubasa, remember that we're not going home the following weekend to prepare for the event," she said when the two were about to get off.

"Yeah, yeah," Tsubasa nodded dismissively. The train doors opened and the two guys stood up. "Misaki, rest a bit when you get home, okay?"

She nodded and waved goodbye at them. "Take care, guys."

"She's not gonna give it a break at all when she gets home, I'm betting," Hayate said to Tsubasa as they got off the train. The two grinned.

"As soon as she drops her things she's gonna check the whole lineup and think the whole event over then call me, 'Tsubasa, do you think blah blah blah'," the two fist-bumped.

"I heard that!" too bad the two were already outside when she was about to whack them.

She grinned a little as she settled back to her seat. Soon she was at her own stop and was back at her house.

"Mom, I'm home," she called out as she went upstairs. She dropped her luggage at the foot of her bed and took out her tablet and phone. As Tsubasa had predicted, she immediately checked the program lineup and reviewed it. She placed it on her desk to tie her hair then took it back again. She then picked up the bag with her laundry and brought it with her downstairs as she continued to review the program lineup.

She dumped the laundry bag at the laundry area and sat down, then continued reviewing the program lineup. Soon she was calling Tsubasa to discuss things already.

"Wow, you're late by 1 minute today," he said over the line.

"I stopped to drop the laundry," she said and started discussing with him.

* * *

"Fuck," was the first thing they heard Tsubasa say after his call ended. They were in the clubroom after their class, having a short meeting before heading out. Everyone in the inner office looked at him. It's not that Tsubasa doesn't cuss. It's that he doesn't cuss after every end of a sentence just like a gangster or wannabe gangster would.

"Tsubasa, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly. He removed his beanie and weaved his hand through his hair in frustration. She recognized this as him being stressed out immediately.

"Something came up with Architect Koji, he can't do the talk," everyone's eyes widened. She immediately looked through her lineup.

"Oh, god, that's one of the core topics," she looked back at Tsubasa.

"Is it possible to adjust the lineup?" even though he knew the answer.

"I can but our speakers can't!" she tapped the table in frustration.

"We're only 1 week to go before the event," Saki said. "What about backup contacts, Tsubasa-kun?"

"Yeah, I'll try to contact them. But Architect Koji said he's referring me to a friend who may do the talk," he said as he checked his email. "I want to wait for that before asking someone else."

They all stared at nowhere for a while after that news. It was the beep of Tsubasa's phone which broke the silence. They all looked at him expectantly.

"He gave me the number, he says it seems the guy's free on Wednesday," he announced for the whole team to hear. They all breathed a sigh of relief after that. He stood up and went to the balcony again. "Better to call him now."

They all went back to doing their own thing though they all couldn't help but glance at Tsubasa as he talked on the phone.

"Maybe I should come up with a backup plan with the lineup just in case," she said absentmindedly.

Just then, Tsubasa finished talking on the phone and went back inside. "He agreed, but I need to meet him tomorrow to orient him. Problem is he's only got free time at 2 pm. We have class."

"That's my last class but I can't skip tomorrow, we've got a practical test," Ryuu said. He looked at Saki who also shook her head. "What about your staff, Andou?"

Most of their staff were sophomores. "Can't, senpai, we all have Jinno tomorrow." They all gulped. All of them upperclassmen had already gone under Jinno's math class and they all understood that they can miss out on an Architecture major class but not that one.

"I'll do it, pretty sure tomorrow's class is a new lesson since we just had our exam," Tsubasa said, resigned. "Anyway this is a really important speaker, I have to do this. Misaki, let's go now, let's discuss that topic again so that I can explain everything fully tomorrow."

She nodded and gathered her things. They said goodbye to the whole team and went on their way. Tsubasa was going to look for a book his mom asked him to find and he asked her to help him.

"Oh shoot, my sister's dropping by tomorrow to pick up the book," he suddenly remembered just when they were out the campus gates.

"Really? What time?"

"Around 3 I guess, she's going all the way here to attend a mall show of her favorite idol group with her friends," he snickered. "Dad wants her to go back immediately after so he asked me to look for the book so that she can just pick it up and be on her way back."

"What's with the book anyway? Is it not in any bookstore near your place?" she asked.

"It's a cookbook mom wants to have. Funny how no matter how detailed a recipe is, she can't really follow it properly. It's not available in the local bookstores, and mom's kinda lazy to go to the bigger cities like Shizuoka. She said since I'm in the city anyway, might as well just ask me to look for it," he answered. They reached the nearest mall to the university and went to the bookstore.

"Oh, Tsubasa, here it is," she called out to him when she found it after 5 minutes of going through rows and rows of cookbooks. Tsubasa went over to her and read the title.

"Yep, that's it, let's go," they went to the counter and paid for it. "That reminds me, it's almost my mom's birthday. Since we're here already, can you help me look for a gift too? I wanted to give her a bag but I don't really know what kind."

She agreed and they went to the bags section of the mall. She started picking out bags that she thought were pretty while Tsubasa randomly chose one. "Oi, what do you think your mom is, a kid?" she reacted when he held out a drawstring bag that were the trend for teenage girls nowadays. "And you'd think he'd be good at things like this since he's a good architect."

After a whole round in the bags section, she was finally able to fish up a nice tote bag for his mom. "There, this will be perfect for her, especially since it's summer. Can hold a lot of things if she goes out, and it looks good too," Tsubasa gave a nod of approval and they took it to the counter to pay for it. "Are you going to give that to your sister tomorrow too?"

"Nah, I'll give it to mom myself when I go back next week," he said.

They went to eat next and started discussing the topic again for tomorrow's meeting.

"Ah, I have to tell my sister to look for you instead," he took out his phone and sent a text message. "She'll probably arrive around 3. The meeting ends around that time too but just in case I'm not yet there, I'll leave the book with you."

"Okay," she nodded. "Anyway, good luck with the meeting tomorrow. Ahh, it was worrying at first but thinking about it, it's you. What should I worry about?"

"I don't know if I should be glad about that or be pressured," he grinned sheepishly. "And the person I'm meeting tomorrow is a more renowned architect than Architect Koji, you know. What if he's not impressed with me and decides not to do the talk for us?"

"Whoa, hold up, is this real? The Andou Tsubasa, top of our entire Architecture juniors batch, nervous about a meeting tomorrow?" she said incredulously. "C'mon, if you can't do it, who can? And it's just a meeting, you're the one explaining things to him, you're not exactly being interviewed here, what should you be afraid of?"

"Well I did fail in having a backup plan in case a speaker cancelled," he said.

"Then you should blame me for that since I should be the one who made a flexible forum lineup," she laughed. "Just be yourself, your usual genius confident self."

"There's no 'you better do it or die' underlying message in your words, is there?" he laughed.

* * *

"Misaki-chan, we're eating out, want to come?" the girls asked. It was the following day's last subject. Tsubasa left after a quick lunch earlier.

"I'll pass, I have some paperwork to do for SCA," Misaki finished packing her things and got up. They separated when they reached the first floor of the building, the three girls were going out, the boys in different ways while she was going to the clubroom.

"Hey, guys," she waved at the members as she took a seat on the front desk of the room. She put out the papers immediately and started working on them.

Five minutes into her work, a girl about 18 walked inside and stopped in front of her.

"Yes?" she smiled at the girl.

"Uhm, is Tsubasa-onii-san here?" the girl looked behind her.

"Oh, you must be Mikan-chan, I'm his friend, Misaki," she smiled at the girl and reached under the desk for a paper bag. "Here, he left this for you. He's out for a meeting, he told me to give that to you."

Mikan took the bag and peered inside and then looked again at her. "Uhm, do you know what time he's getting back? He told me to wait for him."

"He texted me earlier that he's on his way back, he's probably near the campus by now. You can sit over there to wait for him," she pointed to the couch on the left part of the door. "Oi, you guys, free up some space, we've got a visitor." She shooed some of the guys who were playing on the lounge. She went back to working on the papers while Mikan went over to the lobby of the clubroom.

"Misaki-chan! Where's your partner?" Tono loudly asked her as he walked inside the room.

"Tsubasa's on his way here from the meeting, senpai, probably in 10-15 minutes," she smiled. Tono shrugged his shoulders and went out of the clubroom.

"Misaki-san, which schedule are you free to panel?" Megane then came in with a task board in his hand.

"The Friday afternoon interviews," she smiled.

"Okay, that's you and Tsubasa as Friday's panels," he noted in the task board and then went to the other members at the inner part of the room. "Hey guys, we need one more person as a panel for the Friday afternoon interviews!"

"Who are the other two?"

"Misaki-san said she and Tsubasa will do it," he then continued to get the members' schedules for the interviews.

"Yo, who knows where Hiro is?" Takeshi, a sophomore, shouted to the whole clubroom as he went inside.

"Saw him in the cafeteria," someone answered. Takeshi nodded and was about to go out of the clubroom again when he stopped in front of her.

"Senpai, does Andou-senpai play basketball too? We're playing a game later, we're lacking people," he asked her. She noted that he was actually wearing jersey shorts.

"Yeah, he does, but he can't play today, too much stuff for Blueprint," she replied, again with a smile. "Try Hayate-kun, though I'm not sure if he plays basketball too, and he may be busy with a game by now." Takeshi scratched his head and went outside to resume the search for Hiro while she went back to her papers.

"Uh," she raised her head and saw Tsubasa's sister looking at her curiously. "Are you perhaps onii-san's girlfriend?"

She laughed and shook her head. "Why, are you getting impatient waiting for your brother to have a girlfriend? Don't worry, your brother's going to be a well-known architect someday, girls will come after him. Oh, and Tsubasa have the same schedule as me, that's why everyone's looking for him from me."

Mikan laughed too and resumed playing games on her phone. She also resumed doing her paperworks.

Just then, a plastic bag containing two boxes of cake and two coffee cups from her favorite café was placed in front of her. She looked up and saw Tsubasa taking off his coat. "This is why I don't like going to meetings, long sleeves are so hot."

She took the coat and placed it over the chair beside her. "So, is this a celebratory treat or a grieve-with-me treat?"

"I closed the deal," Tsubasa fist-pumped into the air. She immediately got up and leapt to hug him.

"Oh my gosh, I told you, you can do it," Tsubasa hugged back and then she saw the curious look of Mikan who was behind Tsubasa. She immediately broke free and faced him. "Your sister's here, by the way."

Tsubasa turned around and saw Mikan who had just stood up. "Hey, did you get the book? By the way, remind Mom I can't come home this weekend, we have an event to prepare for."

The two talked a little more before she heard Tsubasa say goodbye to his sister. Mikan looked at her and thanked her before going. Tsubasa went to see her off until the campus gates then went back to the clubroom immediately.

"Let's eat," he sat beside her and opened the boxes.

"What's with the celebration?" Tono then came in and sat in front of them. "How did the meeting go?"

"He got the deal. We now have a sure lineup for next week's event," she answered as she took her cup of coffee.

"That's so unfair, you only treat Misaki-chan," Tono pouted and then got up. "But good job, man."

"You were right, you have the same eyes as your sister. But if she's a copy of your mom, then you must look like your dad more. She's pretty, and seems pretty bubbly too," she said to him as they ate. "Did you tell Ryuu-kun and Saki-senpai already, by the way?"

"Yeah, they'll be here after their classes," he said. They continued eating until the two arrived and started another meeting.

The rest of the week rolled on like that. Even during the weekends they were running around for Blueprint's main event that coming Wednesday. The following week was an even busier week. The entirety of SCA was focused on the summit, after all, it was SCA's main event.

Nobara started getting used to Rei's absence too. Because of all the hustle and bustle in SCA, even they, the friends, almost forgot about it.

The event was a total success, and everyone in SCA was in partying mood. Even until the day after, everyone was still congratulating their team for a job well done.

"Misaki-chan, we heard the summit was a total success, congratulations! It's a pity we couldn't participate," Anna and Nonoko said to her when they met the following day.

"It's okay, I know you had an important meeting yesterday," they started talking about the summit yesterday while waiting for the boys to order. Just then, Nobara arrived at the cafeteria. As everyone she met that day had congratulated her about the event, for a second, she expected Nobara to do the same, forgetting that she was absent during their classes that morning. She snapped out of it when she saw Nobara's tears as she urgently went towards her. "Nobara-chan! What happened?"

"Misaki-chan!" Nobara immediately hugged her and sobbed. "H-he… broke up with me."

"What?" her eyes grew. She patted Nobara gently and allowed her to continue sobbing. "Did he finally meet you? What did he say? Do you want to stay here or do you want to go outside?"

Nobara sat down with them. The boys then arrived, having hurried their orders when they saw Nobara's entrance.

"I was going to school in my car. He stopped me and talked to me. Only to tell me to stop looking for him. He even said to focus on my studies as he would do the same," Nobara told them what happened in between sobs. "He wouldn't even tell me where he's going, and told me not to wait for him either."

"Is he planning to study again? Pursue a master's degree abroad?"

"Why is that the only thing that registered to you?" Tsubasa looked at Hayate incredulously.

"They already defied everything anyway, why suddenly ask her to stop meeting just because they should focus on studies?" Hayate defended.

"He'll probably start from the bottom again, without Nobara-san's father's influence," Kaname said, a bit absentmindedly. They all looked at him. "It's cliché, yeah, what we hear in dramas, but that's the only path that I can see he could take if he plans to get you back. Your father is influential, Nobara-san, much more than you probably realize. The only way to take him on squarely is through influence too. He has to build that influence, a process that your father might hinder if he's near."

"It could also be that he's giving her up. After all, being with him would mean Nobara-san defying her father—OW!" she silently elbowed Tsubasa at that. Tsubasa scratched his head and looked at Nobara again. "It's more of him thinking for your sake, Nobara-san. You only have your father as family, he probably doesn't want you to lose that."

"Whatever it is, Nobara-chan, he is right about one thing. You should focus on your studies. We're nearing finals and you absented yourself in two of our majors," she said to her. Nobara continued crying on her shoulder until it was time for their next class.

Nobara was obviously out of it. They were waiting for their professor and Nobara was just staring blankly at nowhere. She sighed and thought of how to cheer her up when her conversation with her mom last weekend flashed in her mind…

* * *

"I stopped to drop the laundry." She was in the middle of discussing with Tsubasa when her mom passed by her.

"Misaki-chan, you haven't been even been her for an hour yet you're working again," her mom shook her head and proceeded to the kitchen. "What did I tell you about thinking about things you should be thinking of at your age?"

She and Tsubasa both laughed over the line and ended the call. She then followed her mom to the kitchen who started her lecture again when she came in. She hugged her from behind and rested her head on her mom's shoulder.

"Mom, remember that orgmate I told you about? The one who has boy problems right now?"

"Yeah, the one whose loved one is still missing? What about her?"

"He still hasn't showed up and she's really worried about him. She's still a bit out of it lately," she told her. "Mom, if that's how relationships are, then I don't want it."

Her mom smiled and stroked her head. "Misaki-chan, that's how relationships are. It isn't a once in a lifetime thing where the first one you meet is the only one. There are some who meet so many people first before finally settling down with the one. And if that's the case, then you will have to face hardship in all the former ones before you reach the last one, don't you think?"

"But my friend's so sad right now. I hope I can cheer her up," she unwrapped her arms around her and helped her peel the potatoes.

"Being by her side, doing stuff that you two can bond over, that's usually what you can do for her," her mom said with a smile.

* * *

She snapped back to reality and suddenly faced Nobara. "Nobara-chan, let's go somewhere," she whispered to her. Her smile betrayed mischief.

"But class is starting soon," Nobara looked around them.

"You cut classes in the morning anyway, might as well cut the rest, besides, we only have this one left for the day, and sensei will probably just lecture something that's on the book, we can even ask Anna-chan and Nonoko-chan for notes since they already had this earlier," she said. She slung her bag swiftly and tapped Tsubasa. "Hey, we're going. You guys stay in class and take notes for us. Bye."

"But the team's having a post-event meeting later, and we're drinking a bit too—" Tsubasa started saying but she immediately took Nobara's hand and led her out of the class.

"Misaki-chan, what about your meeting? I'm sure it'll be a team celebration too."

She stopped for a bit and faced Nobara with a wide smile on her face. "It's not important right now."

They kept running until they were out of the campus gates.

"Misaki-chan, what about my driver?"

"Just tell him to follow to the coffee shop at the corner of 13th street and wait for us there," she said. They kept walking until Nobara realized they were in the shrine they visited earlier. The matsuri was now over so it was quiet again. The shrine was originally on a hill, so it was elevated. She took her to its yard and they sat near the edge, where they could see the city scenery, just that it was a bit closer so it wasn't really a full view. "Do you know why I decided on Architecture? One time, my father was heading a construction of a house near ours, so I often visited him at work. I saw that house slowly being built. My father would be studying its blueprints as he said instructions to the workers. That was the first time I admired the construction of a house, how its design which was just on paper was slowly coming to life. The house was pretty, but there were many things I asked my father, 'why do they have to position that door there, what about that', and then I started redrawing the house design as I would have wanted it to be. That's when I decided it was Architecture for me. You, why did you decide on Architecture? You're good at business."

"I like house designs, I always found topics about different Architectural styles interesting. It was my mother's dream too, just that she decided to talk Business Administration instead due to my grandparents," Nobara bowed her head.

She pointed at a skyscraper they could clearly see. "You see that building? How would you have designed that if you were its Architect?"

"Hmnn, maybe a little design on the exterior, it's so plain as it is, I'll probably do the curtain wall a different way," Nobara studied the building carefully.

"Take out your sketchbook," she smiled at her as she took out hers. "This is what I often do when I want to free myself of other thoughts. I go somewhere quiet and where I can see lots of buildings and then draw my own version of the design of the buildings I see."

Nobara finally let out a real laugh that day. "When you told me to go with you earlier, I kind of expected you to take me boxing or something like that," but she did take out her sketchbook too and started drawing.

"Yeah, I'm good at beating people up, but I'm not really that into physical things such as sports. I enjoy playing volleyball and a few sports but not really a big hobby for me," she answered without looking at her, her eyes glued on her sketchbook. They both continued that way for a while, just drawing without speaking.

"Honestly, I asked him if he's coming back for me, all he said was that he's not asking me to wait for him so don't wait for him. I also asked him if he did love me or at least like me," Nobara spoke. "All he said, 'a lot'."

She raised her head from her sketchbook and looked at Nobara. "Then Kaname-kun is probably right, and Tsubasa in a way too. He cares for you, but right now is not the best time for him to be in your life and he knows that. Nobara-chan, I was never in a relationship, but I view love like this. It's not something that you should ever ask to wait for you, because that's selfish. But if it's real, the other person will still wait for it even without assurance it will come back, because if he doesn't, then that's selfish too. Living a life in between that isn't wrong. Even if you do meet someone else, I don't think it's not that you gave up on him, it's just that you're waiting for it, for the time for it to become right. Because if it's love, it will happen, right?"

"Thank you so much, Misaki-chan, for everything," Nobara said to her sincerely and hugged her. They continued drawing that afternoon before heading home.

"How's Nobara-san?" Tsubasa asked her on the phone when she called him after she got back to her apartment.

"It just happened, but she will recover from it slowly, we just have to be there for her," she said to him and smiled even though she knew he wouldn't see.

True enough, Nobara did recover. It took her a week before she got her normal focus on her studies even though she was still constantly depressed.

* * *

"Are you free this afternoon?" Tsubasa looked up and saw Tono packing up his things. "I want you to go with me."

"It's finals week, but unless you're taking me to drink, I am free," he said. They only have one exam tomorrow so he has ample time to study for it. He packed up his things and followed him out the clubroom. "Where are we going anyway?"

"A client for Vista," Tono said.

Vista, under Corporate Projects, was what he described as a 'variety services' project. It offers architectural solutions services to external clients like recommendations on what type of material to use, suggestions on design, reference to professional architect firms and other varied services.

"The President himself is going, so the client is big or the project is complicated?" he asked. Tono just gave him a smirk and continued to lead the way. They arrived at an empty commercial space, probably going to be made into a cafe.

A man welcomed them inside. The space was a former bakery, now going to be turned into a café by the new owner. He observed the space as he listened to Tono and the owner discussed the plans for the creation of the café. Afterwards Tono asked to look around the space. They went around the whole space and Tono inspected every nook and cranny.

"I think we're done observing the space, I can start working on the final recommendation now so I'll just update you with my progress," Tono said as he got down from the step after checking the lights. They bid goodbye and went out, stopping on a café near their university. "What do you think?"

"Hmnn, isn't this a job for SCID after all?" he asked, pertaining to their sister organization, Special Club for Interior Designers. "He already has the space and just needs to repaint and fix some parts, the rest are about furniture and design, a job for interior designers."

"You think?" Tono smiled knowingly at his drink. "Why do you think he didn't contact SCID instead?"

Tono opened his files for the client and showed him the desired store layout of the owner. "You see this counter for the cashier right here? In this plan a light should be here, but is it really possible to place that there?"

He stopped and remembered the current location of the lights in the store, it definitely was a bit off.

"What I need to do for them is to evaluate this layout, obviously a job for us rather than SCID," Tono said. "But I do think I'm going to ask our I.D. people for help since the client is on a tight budget, they'll be able to help with suggestions for where to get the items they need."

"We even do those things?" he asked, surprised. Tono nodded. "Wow, this is an interesting project."

"Isn't it?" Tono kept the files and took a sip from his drink. "There's a lot of interesting things that an architect can handle, Tsubasa. That's why I created Project Vista. While Lighthouse provides us with opportunities to work for professionals, in Vista, SCA itself brings you the work. It's like an application of what you learn in Blueprint too."

"Why did you bring me along, by the way? Are you signing me up to work on this project too?" he asked.

"Nah, I know you've got lessons to catch up on after Blueprint," Tono finished his drink and stood up. He followed. "This is more of exposing you to what more you can do."

He just scratched his head, not understanding Tono's mysterious words. But he admit he did find Vista interesting. Maybe he should take some engagements in it next time.

* * *

"Yahoo! The sem's over!" Megane shouted when they got out of their last exam for the sem. "Let's drink tonight."

"Yeah, Misaki and I saw a good place in 11th street last time," Tsubasa said and faced her. "What was the name again?"

"Barry's," she said. "Yeah, it looks like a good place. It's a bit obscure so it's not so noisy."

"I can't, I just got a late notice in the dorm," Hayate scrunched his face.

"Where did you go anyway that night? That was the day after the summit, right?" Tsubasa asked him.

"Eh, you got a late notice, Hayate-kun? It's my fault, sorry," Nobara almost cried.

"What do you mean it's your fault, Nobara-chan?" she looked at her confusedly. The others looked the same.

"I called him up that night…"

* * *

Nobara was fine when she and Misaki separated after that drawing trip in the shrine. But when she got on her car going home that afternoon, she started thinking about her situation again. She couldn't help not believing that Rei had actually broken up with her, and might be planning on leaving.

When she got home, she immediately opened her phone to give him a call, only to find out that he discontinued his phone line.

"Nobara-sama, dinner is ready, your father is in the dining room too," a maid knocked on her door. At the mention of her father, she felt her blood boil. She followed the maid to the dining room but didn't say anything to her father. She silently ate her dinner without even a sideway glance to her father.

"Nobara-chan—"

"Don't even mention my name," she said sharply. Her father was about to speak again but she lost it. Sobbing, she screamed at her father. "It's your fault! If you didn't drive him away in the first place, none of this would have happened! He wouldn't have broken up with me!"

She ran back to her room crying, still stewing. After a while she saw her phone and an idea flashed to her. She changed her clothes, donning an all-black get up, and picked up her phone. She scrolled through her contacts. She stopped at Kaname's name and was about to click it, but she stopped and shook her head. 'No, not him,' she thought. She scrolled through again and she saw Hayate's name. She clicked on it and called him. "Hayate-kun, do you know how to drive a motorcycle?"

"Uh, yeah, why?" Hayate replied over the line, obviously confused.

"Can you meet me right now? Let's meet at the park, I need someone with me," she asked.

Hayate didn't answer immediately that she was scared he would say no. "Yeah, be there in 5." They both hanged up and she went out of her room. She walked straight, with hurried steps, going outside the house. The maids she passed by was too shocked to react immediately when they saw her expression. She went straight to the garage, where a line of vehicles was housed. The guard immediately stood up when he saw her.

"Give me the key for the Ducati," she ordered him.

"B-but, Nobara-sama," the guard hesitated, knowing that she was under tight watch the past month by her father.

"Do you want me look for it myself?" she said sternly. The guard had no choice but to obey. It was the first time Nobara had ever raised her voice to an employee. She took the key and took out the bike. She was shaking a bit but she managed to start it and take it out of her house. She rode the bike to the park slowly. She knew how to drive but she only rode a motorcycle a few times before. She parked the bike at a side and leaned on it while waiting for Hayate.

She knew she was attracting attention with the Ducati. She noticed a bunch of thug-looking guys lurking at the park. She silently prayed that Hayate arrive soon. And he did.

He whistled when he saw the ride she was leaning on. "Didn't know you ride these," he said. "Are we being rebellious today?" he noted her outfit.

"My father's a luxury car collector," she said to him with a weak smile. She noticed the thugs starting to inch closer. She was about to speak about it but Hayate beat her to it.

"Get on the bike," he said to her with a low voice. She did and Hayate sat in front of her, starting the bike and getting them on their way.

"Tsubasa-kun told me. Couldn't you just beat them?" she asked.

"Probably could, but I'm outnumbered, someone could have gotten to you while I beat 3 of them," he said. "So where are we going?"

"Anywhere," she said as she closed her eyes, feeling the air as they tore through it. They went around the city until they stopped at another park. Hayate bought two cans of soda from a vending machine and gave one to her. "Sorry for dragging you out at this time. I feel ashamed to go to Misaki-chan again."

"Is okay," he said. "We people with interfering parents should stick together."

"I got so mad at him when I saw him. I instantly blamed him for Rei-san leaving me. He's partly responsible, but I guess it's really not his fault. And then I thought begging him to bring Rei-san back to me, which he probably won't allow anyway, but I realized I was just being desperate," she said, looking down as she fought her tears. After a while her tears stopped. "It was a good thing you knew how to ride a motorcycle. I would have been too unstable to ride by myself."

"Scooters, motorcycles, bikes, that's the usual ride in our town. We're near the beach so the air's nice when you ride those," he said. They emptied their cans and decided to home. He drove her all the way to her house first and then headed back to the campus.

* * *

"Why didn't you call me instead?" Kaname whined at Nobara when she finished her story. Misaki whacked him.

"And what will you do about your heart, huh?"

"Yeah, Kaname-kun, I know you're still recovering from the operation," Nobara agreed with her and tried soothing him.

"Anyway let's go out, just a few drinks. Kaname's not drinking though. Hayate, we're all going so you won't forget to get a permit to go out today," Tsubasa said. Hayate finally agreed and they all went back to their homes first and met up again later.

"Last drink before we all see each other again after summer vacation!" they all raised their glasses and shot.

"But still, why didn't Nobara-san call me instead?" WHACK!

"You really want to die, Kaname-kun? Fight me now!"

"What about a Hayate versus Misaki?"

"You sure you're okay now?" she asked Nobara as the others continued joking around.

"I accepted it already. I have no choice now anyway, I heard from the orphanage he did go out of the country. I will just have to focus on my studies now, and have faith that he will go back for me eventually," Nobara gave her a sincere smile.

"And live a social life too," she said before teasing her. "What's up with you and Hayate-kun? Poor Kaname-kun."

"Hayate-kun feels like a brother to me. I can connect to him since he also has a meddling father," Nobara laughed. She nodded and they joined the others.

The night was filled with laughs more than drinks, celebrating another sem of academics, hardships, and friendship.

* * *

Author's Note: After writing this far, I realized a few things. One is that I'm putting so much effort in this that what's going to happen in the next chapter is always the thought lingering in my head just before I fall asleep. And remember how I said in the first chapter that this story was inspired by many things from my real life? Honestly the 'similar outputs' thing (I am definitely no Architecture major, I major in Accounting) came from a similar situation with me and a friend. Our classmates teased us for that for around a year I think. And actually, that friend somehow got a copy of the raw files of my first few chapters. I sincerely got scared to the point that I declared I wasn't going to release this ever (a story for another time), because I was too embarrassed that that friend or anyone who knows us will think I like that person (that's just awkward when you're friends you know O_O). I got scared because, at that time, even I thought the character I was turning Tsubasa into was patterned on him. I had several internal 'character settings' with Tsubasa throughout the writing process, but somehow, I suddenly realized that it really wasn't that friend I was aiming for. It's more of a mix, really, but I was actually merging my guy best friend with Tsubasa, without realizing it. It's a known fact (at least among the people who know me personally) that he's actually the description of my ideal guy, just that he's chinky eyed and chinky eyed really isn't attractive for me (I have nothing against them), so he automatically fell into the 'forever my friend' category. And now I really miss my guy best friend, it's been more than a year since we last saw each other (yet we live in the same area O_O). So yeah, to my guy best friend, even though he won't ever get to read this, the next few chapters will be for you :)

Anyway, thank you to those who are patiently staying with me on this. As long as I know that people are reading this, I will keep writing this for you the reader. Oh, and I have a cute surprise for next week. Thank you so much, see you all next week!


	14. Chapter 14

Partners  
(Tsubasa x Misaki)

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.

* * *

_RINGGG!_ On a summer day like this, anyone would get mad at the alarm clock for ringing at 5 am, but Misaki didn't. The moment it rang, she opened her eyes with excitement. She got up and a smile formed on her lips when she saw the summer bag waiting to be picked up on the floor. She was going to Tsubasa's place today.

* * *

_Just yesterday_

"My father won't be home for summer," she texted Tsubasa, complete with a crying emoticon. "My friends are out on family trips too, I want to go to the beach."

"I've got no problems like that, I live near the beach anyway. I sometimes even get tired of it," he replied to her. At first her eyebrows immediately twitched, 'lucky bastard,' she thought, and then she remembered that he actually owns a beach resort.

"Hey, your family owns a beach resort, right? Why don't I come over?" she texted him and then called him immediately after sending it. "I'll go there tomorrow, take me to your family's beach resort."

"Woah, woah, hold up a bit," he said over the line. "You want to come here?"

"Yeah, since I don't have anything to do anyway, and I really want to go to the beach," her eyes were sparkling by now. "Do you have any plans?"

"No." "Then it's sealed, I'm going there tomorrow first thing in the morning, send me the train directions. Oh, and you'd better pick me up from the train station. I'm hanging up."

Tsubasa didn't even get a word in. She hanged up and started packing immediately. She was humming as she ran around the house that her mom almost asked her to cut it off.

* * *

She took a bath and ate breakfast then went to the train station. When she settled into a seat, she took out her phone to text Tsubasa that she was on the train already and he'd better be up by now. She knew that the train ride would be long and that she needs to make 2 transfers, but better safe than risk Tsubasa being late.

The ride took around 2 hours. When she got out of the station, she immediately saw Tsubasa waiting for her.

"You don't look excited, huh," he said to her. He looked at her from head to toe then laughed a bit. She was obviously beach-ready. She was wearing white shorts and a loose gray top, her swim suit strap totally seen going around her neck. She even has a sunglass on. "Don't you get scared commuting wearing that?"

"It's summer, who in their right mind would go out wrapped up?" she said to him. He led her to his car and they went on their way. "Oh gosh, I'm actually here in Shimoda!"

Tsubasa just chuckled at her excitement as he drove. "Let's drop by somewhere to eat breakfast first, I didn't get to eat much at home because I was scared of being late," he said. She nodded. "You can be pretty impulsive too, aren't you? Who suddenly plans a trip and goes right after?"

"Well, there's no use delaying it anyway. Why, are you getting sick of my face? Well, there is only one day in a week where we don't see each during the sem, it won't be a surprise," she nodded as she said it. "You want to break away from me now?"

Tsubasa laughed and shook his head in response. "If someone from school hears us they'd think we're talking about breaking up like a couple."

"Let them be, it's not like we're affecting anyone's relationship, unless I'm preventing you from getting a girlfriend, just tell me and I'd keep my distance," she said.

"There's none of that happening," he assured her.

She looked at the view around her. Shimoda City definitely is a tourist hotspot. She looked back at Tsubasa who was focused on the driving. "What's our itinerary for the day? Are we meeting up with Hayate-kun?"

"Hmnn, we'll be having breakfast at a restaurant here, then we'd go to our beach resort. We can stay for as long as you'd like, but I think you'd like to go out and look around too. Hayate's probably going to be out playing soccer, we can go to the field where we usually play. It's got a nice view too. There's also a souvenir shop-lined street, we can go there in the afternoon before going back to the beach if you still want to swim. Are you staying 'til dinner? My mom's inviting you over," he told her. She nodded at everything he said.

"Yeah, sure," she said. "Wow, that's a lot you planned. It's a good thing you can drive. Is this your family's car? Doesn't your father use it?"

"He takes it to the resort usually unless my mom or I need to use it. He agreed to let me take it for the whole day," she felt a little bit shy because she knew it was because of her. "What are you doing?"

She was taking pictures of them as he was driving. "Taking selcas. I'm going to document this whole thing." They reached a red light and she took the opportunity to take another picture. "C'mon, look at the camera." FLICK!

She took photos of the view outside next and kept doing so until they reached a restaurant.

"We're here. It's a popular stopover place," Tsubasa said. They got out of the car and went inside and took a seat. They looked at the menu and Tsubasa pointed out the signature dishes of the place, which she ordered almost all. When their order came, Tsubasa's eyes grew. "I thought you had breakfast already?"

"The train ride lasted around 2 hours, you really expect me not to get hungry? Itadakimasu!" she happily took a bite.

"Just to remind you, we're going swimming in the beach later," he reminded her as he started eating too.

"Yeah, I know, that's the whole point of this trip," she said in between bites of her bacon.

"Don't girls usually diet when they're going to the beach?"

"I don't. Why, are you looking forward to the view?" she teased him. He went red for a second but got himself back.

"Is there a view to look forward too? Aren't you wearing that loose top to hide something?" WHACK!

"Hey, I can wear a bikini top confidently. I'm no skinny girl but I don't have anything to hide either, now just continue eating," she glared at him.

"You're wearing a bikini top?" his voice raised and his eyes grew.

She glared at him again. "What about it?"

He immediately shook his head. "Nothing." He kept quiet for a while and continued eating until he spoke again. "But god, Misaki, you're commuting but you're wearing that?"

She gritted her teeth in irritation. "Can you lower your voice a bit? I'm just in front you."

"Well, you can defend yourself anyway. Why don't you seriously consider having a match with Hayate just to see who's stronger?" WHACK!

"I told you to shut up and just keep eating, didn't I?"

"Just to remind you, we're having fresh seafood for lunch," he said and then complied with keeping quiet.

Her lips parted at that realization. "Ah, that's right," but she went back to eating. "Oh well, I can just swim all I eat later."

They finished eating and went back on the road to the beach resort. Soon they were at the place lined with beach resorts. They then entered the grandest looking among them all. A lot of cars were already in the parking lot when they got in.

"Hayate-kun wasn't kidding, you really are rich," she said to him as soon as he finished parking the car in the reserved slot.

"This has been ours since I don't know which generation, of course all my ancestors would have done something to keep it flourishing. Even my father stopped coaching to focus on this when he inherited it," he said as he stopped the engine. They got out of the car and Tsubasa stretched his hands. "Ahh, we're here!"

Just then, a phone rang. They turned their head at the direction from which it rang but it came from the other side of the parking lot and vehicles were blocking the owner from their view.

"Let's go in," he smirked and led her inside the hotel lobby.

"What's with that smirk?"

"I've got a feeling my sister's here with her best friend. For sure they'd stalk us," he said. "Anyway, we won't be getting you a room anymore, I asked my father to reserve us a cottage by the beach."

He led her out of the building, which led to the actual resort. There was a pool in the lawn just before the sandy shore started. They reached a snack shack facing the shore. A man, who looked like an older version of Tsubasa save for the eyes, greeted them.

"Dad, we're here," he said to him. "This is Misaki, my friend from the university, she's the one I stayed with during the repair of the dorm. Misaki, he's my dad."

She gave him a polite bow as they shook hands.

"Well, welcome to Shimoda, and to our resort. We're glad to have you here, especially my wife. Oh, and I'd like to thank you for allowing this rascal to stay with you for a week. I hope he wasn't a bother," Tsubasa's dad, she easily deduced, was easygoing, much like how Tsubasa was. She easily felt comfortable with him.

She thanked him before Tsubasa led her on to the cottage just near the snack shack. They placed her things there and looked out to the sea. "I was right, you look like your father more. And you seem to have the same personality too."

"He doesn't look like he's the owner of this place, does he?" he grinned. "That's where he usually is, the snack shack, rather than be cooped up in an office inside the building. We've got most stuff in there, just go and order if you want."

"Let's go swimming now," she said and tugged on him. They went out of the cottage amidst the sun. "Thanks God, for sunscreens," she said. "Don't check me out, I already told you I'm wearing a bikini top."

"Where the hell do you place all those you eat?" WHACK!

"I am not expecting any compliment from you, but why are you always concerned about my eating?" she aimed another fist at him. "It's the first time you see me in swimwear yet you're honest to goodness more concerned about my fats. I could say the same to you anyway, you eat a lot too."

They were both not wearing their shirts anymore. They went on to the shore. When they reached the water, she immediately ran in. "I'm really in the beach now!"

Tsubasa looked at the surroundings first before joining her. "That's weird, my sister isn't here."

They played and had a swimming race until they got tired. They were laughing as they went to the snack shack to rest. "I couldn't beat you at all!"

"I should get worried if you beat me. I am the son of a former swimmer," he gave a nod to the shack's counter's direction. "You want something?"

"The ice cream shake looks amazing," she said. Tsubasa nodded and went inside to fix the shake himself. He went back with two glasses of shake for them. They were sipping on it when his dad went out of the kitchen with plates of nachos.

"Oh, you two are here. Enjoying your stay, Misaki-chan?"

"Yes, thank you very much," she smiled.

"That's good," he then faced Tsubasa. "Son, can you help me for a while? There are a lot of orders right now. You serve these while I prepare the next ones. Sorry, Misaki-chan, I'll just borrow him for a bit while you drink that shake."

He went back inside the kitchen while Tsubasa took his place behind the counter. "Two servings of nachos for number 3!"

"Can you wear a shirt? The snack shack looks a bit indecent with you there," she joked. Well, she doesn't seem like she's the only one who thinks so. The balanced number of customers earlier has now turned into an all-female fans club.

Tsubasa scratched his head then jolted to the kitchen when his father called him. When he went back out, he came back with not only the plates of nachos and fries, but also a button down shirt hastily put on. Sighs of disappointment were heard all over the shack.

The number of customers soon died down since it was nearly lunch time. Tsubasa took his seat at her table.

"My father called the hotel restaurant to serve our lunch at the cottage. Let's stay here for a bit while we wait," he said to her. Just then, a familiar flick of light caught his eye. She followed where his gaze stopped. "Of course, they'd be here. Hotaru-chan, I see you're there!"

A short-haired girl with amethyst irises and a camera on her hand had no choice but to approach them. "Tsubasa-nii, you're here."

"Where's Mikan-chan? You two are supposed to be stalking us, aren't you?" he looked behind the girl. "Ah, by the way, Misaki, this is Hotaru-chan, my sister's best friend. Remember I told you before that Hayate likes her? Hotaru-chan, this is Misaki, my friend from college visiting for a day."

"I don't know, she ran off with Hyuuga earlier. Hello, how do you do?" the girl bowed to her and greeted her as if it was a programmed thing. Her mouth went agape but greeted back anyway. Hotaru then faced Tsubasa again, waving her camera in front of him. "Since you called me over, I think you know what this means."

FLICK! FLICK! FLICK! "Oh ho, this will be big news tomorrow. Though I'm not sure if it would sell if you have a girl with you, well, again then." FLICK! FLICK! FLICK! She took successive pictures of Tsubasa alone. "Now that's surely gonna sell. Tsubasa-nii, you're fans club membership hasn't dwindled down a bit, I make so much money just because of them."

She looked at him with questioning eyes, obviously weirded out by what's happening. "She heads the local news here."

"I should sell this as a limited edition," Hotaru nodded approvingly as she looked at the pictures she took. "Why don't you try to work on a 6-pack a bit? That's going to be a big bestseller. Well, I should go now since your idiotic sister left me."

They waved goodbye and decided to get back to the cottage to have their lunch. "What were the pictures for?"

"She sells pictures of the popular guys in town. And she's the local photographer for the news. If there's a new gossip in town, chances are it came from her," he answered nonchalantly.

"How dare you deem yourself popular?" she looked at him incredulously. "But you seriously have a fans club?"

"They get crazier by the time," he answered simply. They reached the cottage just in time as the servers from the restaurant finished setting the table. "Our specialty, fresh seafood."

Her mouth automatically watered. "Oh gosh, why did you prepare so much?"

"It's okay. Dig in," he said with a big smile.

"Wait, picture," she gave him a wide grin and took out her tablet to take the picture. They ate happily after that. They were halfway through the feast when she remembered their friends. "It would have been nice if the others were here too. Wanna call them?"

Tsubasa nodded and she washed her hands before taking out her phone to call Kaname. It took just one ring before he answered.

"Misaki-san! How's your date with Tsubasa?" was his first greeting. "That's so unfair! Why are you two having a feast alone? Misaki-san, you even beat me to going there."

The others had the same remarks.

"You two are even having summer out-of-town, well, sort of, dates of your own," was what Megane said.

"That's so sweet of Tsubasa-kun," Nobara commented when she told her of what they did so far.

"You're in trouble, Tsubasa-kun, Misaki-chan's parents will expect much when you meet them," Anna and Nonoko said along the same line.

"Ei, these guys. We've been together for a year and half now yet they still don't stop teasing us," they finished eating after calling up their friends, then decided to meet Hayate at the field. They dropped by the snack shack before going.

"Dad, we're going out for a while to look around the town since it's too hot to swim," Tsubasa informed his father.

"Oh, okay. Ah, bring her to the flower field park, spring has just passed so it's still a sight to see, I'm sure she'll love that," his dad said. The word 'flower' automatically got her excited again. Before she knew it she was already pulling Tsubasa by the hand towards the parking lot.

"Shizuka-chan, Andou-senpai is here," a group of girls probably a year or two younger than them was coming in the resort as they were going out.

"Even though his family owns this, I didn't expect to see him here of all days," another said.

"Tsubasa," one of them, who looked oddly familiar, stopped to come face to face with them. "-senpai."

'What's with the pause?' she thought. It seems the girl just suddenly remembered that she had to add an honorific.

"Shizuka-chan, it's been a while," she looked at Tsubasa then at the girl, then blinked several times. She finally remembered who she was. This was actually Tsubasa's ex-girlfriend. The only time she heard about her was at last year's college party where they met Shizune, then a senior, who is this girl's older sister. Now she understood why Tsubasa described her as a brighter version of Shizune. She looked almost exactly the same, except that while Shizune has this strict air to her, Shizuka exuded cheerfulness.

"Yeah, I didn't expect you'd be here today, you're mostly in the soccer fields during summer instead of here," the two talked with familiarity, but she noticed that nostalgia only came from the girl's side, none from Tsubasa.

"Ah, Misaki, this is Shizuka-chan, by the way, she's Shizune-senpai's younger sister, you remember her as part of last year's student council, right?" that's when Shizuka seemed to realize someone was with Tsubasa. She gave the girl a smile. "Shizuka-chan, she's Misaki, we're from the same course."

She felt a nervous energy from the side of the girls. She realized she and Tsubasa were still holding hands, and that made them wait for a continuation of her introduction. Shizuka gave back her smile after they all realized there was no continuation from her introduction. She felt the urge to pull back her hand but felt that would be stupid to do.

"Well, we're going now, I hope you and your friends enjoy your stay at the resort," Tsubasa led her out after giving a nod to the girls. WHACK! "What was that for?"

"That was your ex-girlfriend right there." "What about it?" "Well, you didn't act like she was. You were too relaxed, you didn't even realize you didn't introduce me properly. Did you two break up badly?"

"Am I supposed to act a different way? What do you mean I didn't introduce you properly?" this man, she concluded, was utterly dense at relationships. "No, we broke up but are still friends. Just that we haven't really seen each other since I graduated."

"You should have cleared that I was a friend, she's probably wondering who the hell I am. But she really is pretty, how did you get a girl like that? Wait, can't believe you even know the concept of having a girlfriend in the first place," she remarked. "How did you ask her out the first time?"

"At least I've already been in a relationship," he stuck his tongue out at her then refocused on the road. "She was the first to ask me out. My friends urged me to go, so I went, and we went out a few more times after that, until we just both realized we're just friends. So we decided to end it and remained friends. Ah, we're here."

They arrived at a park. Tsubasa parked the car and they both got off. "We'll walk from here," he smiled at her and they started walking following a trail.

"It's beautiful," she couldn't help but be awestruck. The park was lined with flowers, particularly hydrangeas, and they were really beautiful. She took lots of photos as they walked along, until they reached the other end of the park.

"Don't worry, we'll be going back there later," Tsubasa assured her and led her to the nearby fields. They found Hayate there who was playing with a bunch of guys.

"Tsubasa's here." "Tsubasa brought a girl." "Tsubasa has a girlfriend." "That's his wife." WHACK!

"What did you say again, Hayate-kun?" she glared at him.

"Again, you never learn, don't you?" Tsubasa shook his head at him.

"Tsubasa, join us!" the guys on the field called.

"Go play for a bit, I'll watch," she prodded him.

He just gave her a slight chuckle and faced the guys. "I'll pass today." He then faced Hayate. "I'm taking her to the shops, wanna join us?"

"Nah, I'll stay here to play. I won't ruin your date today," before either of them could whack him, he ran back to the field.

They waved to Tsubasa's friends and made their way to the summer shops just nearby. She shopped for souvenirs there and then they went to a local café to have an afternoon snack before going back to the resort.

When they got back to the resort, the sun wasn't glaring as much so they swam at the beach again. They stopped past 5 and decided to go to his house now. They went after washing up.

"It's a good thing I brought a dress today even though I didn't expect that you'll be bringing me to your house," she said as she checked how she looked at the mirror.

"It's just my family, they don't really care if you went there in baggy pants," he said as he picked up her bag. She followed him out the cottage and to the parking lot where the car is.

"I don't usually try to impress my friends' parents too, but still, I want to look presentable in front of yours, after all it's the first time they'll meet me and they know we're always together in the university. I think they'd be curious as to what kind of person the girl you stayed with is," she said.

The drive to his house was short, around 5 minutes only. They entered the garage of a 2 story yellow house. It looked homey and welcoming, despite its L.A. house look.

"Mom, we're here!" Tsubasa called loudly as they entered the house.

"Don't you even say 'tadaima' properly?"

Just then, they heard a grumbling noise approach them. It was the sound of hurrying footsteps. From an arch that probably led to the dining and kitchen area of the house emerged a middle-aged woman who had the same eyes as Tsubasa.

"That's the reason," Tsubasa said, scratching his head at his mom's obvious excitement.

"Hi, welcome to our house! You must be Misaki-chan, I'm Tsubasa-kun's mom," she approached her and gave her a hug. "You're really pretty as Mikan-chan said."

"Thank you," she smiled. "And thank you for allowing me to visit today."

"Oh, that's no problem," she then faced her son. "What about your sister and your father?"

"Mikan hasn't come back to the resort, didn't see her all day actually. Hotaru-chan said she took off with Natsume. Dad's going back in time for dinner he said."

"Oh, okay. Ah, Misaki-chan, you'll be staying for dinner, right? I'm cooking up a feast," she faced her again.

"Thank you for offering but I still have to go home so I won't anymore. It's a 2-hour journey back to Hamamatsu, it'll be too late if I stay," she said apologetically. Tsubasa's mom seemed really happy to have her here.

"Tsubasa-kun will just drive you back then, so stay for dinner."

"Mom! Do you know how far that is?"

"Well, either way, she'll be journeying at night, do you know how unsafe it is nowadays for young girls?" "I'll get home at midnight." "Why, do you have to get up early tomorrow?" "No."

"Then you can just sleep in. End of discussion. I'll finish cooking dinner, you show Misaki-chan around," she ended the conversation and went back to the kitchen.

"You don't have to drive me back, I'll just commute," she said to him when his mother was out of earshot.

"Nah, I'll drive. She's right, it's not safe for you to commute home even if you go now. Well, you heard what she said, want to look around?" he gestured at the surroundings.

"Your room," she smiled excitedly. He nodded and led her upstairs to his room.

"What was I expecting? I've already seen your dorm room, of course it's pretty much the same," she shook her head at the sight of Tsubasa's untidy room. At least his desk here was neater, with only his laptop and an organizer on top. But the room was larger than the usual size, giving room for a personal TV, game set, and 2 bean bags in front of it.

"Sit anywhere you like," he said as he hastily pulled a used jersey resting on his bed and placed it in the laundry bin in his bathroom.

"Ooh, you've got your own bathroom," she said and peered in. It was actually neat.

"My mom made sure we each have our own bathrooms because she said it's embarrassing when we have visitors and the bathroom is unclean because of us. She even made a clean your own bathroom rule but she cleans it for us herself anyway," he chuckled.

She looked around the room again and noticed that his walls are devoid of the usual posters one would see at a guy's room, save for one anime poster by the TV, and a bunch of small picture frames by his desk. On the picture frames are various photos of him and his family members. She smiled. She noticed it before but this served as proof, Tsubasa is very filial despite his carefree personality.

Soon after, they went back down to the living room and she looked at the family photos there. That's when Mikan came home, finally meeting her since she arrived.

"Oh, Mikan-chan, there you are. I was surprised not to see you lurking around with your best friend on a day like this," Tsubasa greeted her and laughed. "Ah, Hotaru-chan told me you went on a date with Natsume. I guess that will be the headlines tomorrow rather than me bringing my supposed girlfriend over."

"I didn't!" Mikan retorted, and then saw her. Her angry face turned to a smiling one. "Ah, you're her onee-san."

"Hello, Mikan-chan, it's nice to see you again," she smiled back at her.

"Go change. You smell, were you out in the sun all day? Mom's gonna be finished with dinner soon," Tsubasa instructed her. Mikan made face on him but went up to her room anyway. "Ah, I have to warn you, I'm not sure what my mom's making, but she's not a good cook, I told you that before. Let's just hope she's cooking something she can do right to have a proper dinner."

"Do you want to go check on what she's making? I also want to see your kitchen," he agreed and led her to the kitchen.

"Why did you bring her here?" his mom got flustered because she was caught panicking at what she's doing.

"Kitchen is the most important part of a house for her, she loves to cook, and she's so much better than you, Mom." WHACK!

"Don't mind him," she smiled at his mom. She looked around the kitchen and was satisfied. Whoever designed the house did a good job. They were talking discussing about the technical stuff when his mom suddenly screamed. They turned and saw the oil splashing from the pan. By instinct, she immediately rushed to help.

* * *

Misaki and his mom settled in cooking together despite his mom's initial protests. Misaki did the frying while his mom focused the soup. He sat on a barstool in front of the counter to watch them.

"Why are you frying so much tempura?" he eyed the shrimp tempura that's waiting to be fried.

"Because you and Mikan-chan eat so much. I don't know how much Misaki-chan eats so I prepared a lot, you're gonna eat up what's excess anyway," his mom answered him as she ladled the soup to taste. "Hmn, it's bland."

Misaki asked for a taste and identified what was wrong. "Tsubasa, pass me the soy sauce."

He saw it in front of him and passed it to his mom who passed it on to Misaki. He watched as Misaki put it in and mix the soup a bit. He smiled. She looked like a professional.

"Misaki-chan, wear an apron," his mom offered.

"It's okay," but she declined with a smile and refocused on cooking. She didn't need it. She was doing everything neatly, nothing was splashing on her, not even a drop.

He liked watching Misaki cook. Gone was the tough girl image she had. Soon she was doing both frying and watching the soup.

His dad came home after a while, just as he and his mom were setting the table. "Dad, we'll be eating delicious food today," he said when his dad came in. Mikan came down too and they started eating.

"Wow, since when did Mom's cooking taste so good?" she exclaimed.

"That's Misaki's cooking," he proudly said.

"You got this kind of good food for one week before?" she said, envious. He nodded.

They talked about that topic of his one week stay with Misaki. They thanked her again for letting him stay over and trusting him despite being a guy.

"What did your parents say about it?" they asked her.

"They were fine with it since they trust me. My mom's even a bit disappointed that he had no interest in me because I never dated," she answered.

"Why don't you date Tsubasa-kun?" he gave his mom a look.

"She deserves better," he gave his dad a look too.

"What's wrong with our Tsubasa? He's a bit too carefree but he's smart and a good kid too," his mom defended him. They finished dinner and rested for a while then he went on to drive Misaki home.

"Ah, I'm so tired," Misaki said as she stretched when they were inside the car.

"You can't sleep, sorry, you have to talk to me the whole journey," he said to her.

That she did. They got to her house without anyone of them feeling sleepy.

"Have coffee before you go, that's another 2 hours of journey," she offered, no, more like ordered him. "Mom, I'm home. Tsubasa's here."

"It's okay, your parents might be resting," he stopped her. It was too late. Her mother came rushing to meet them.

"Mom, he's Tsubasa, the one I went to visit in Shimoda," he introduced him. "Tsubasa, my mom."

He bowed and greeted her.

"He drove me all the way here, I told him to have coffee before he goes back," her mother nodded and thanked him before going to the kitchen to make the coffee. He stayed until he finished the coffee Misaki's mother served him then went on his way.

"Take care on the way back, and thank your parents again for me," she said when she saw him off. "And Tsubasa, thank you so much for today."

She hugged him. He was surprised. They were comfortable with each other but Misaki doesn't often hug people. It was a short hug but sincere at the same time. She let go and he went off, the fun memories of the whole day keeping him awake for the 2-hour drive.

* * *

"Onii-san, wake up!" he was tired and he was sleeping in but Mikan came screeching at his room at 9 in the morning.

"What is it?" he said, his eyes not fully open.

She showed him her iPad which showed the local "headlines" for today. "Love is in the summer air for the Andou siblings – Imai H." it read, along with photos of him and Misaki playing at the beach yesterday, and Mikan and Natsume on a motorcycle.

* * *

Anyone who read Summer Date might have recognized some parts of this chapter. This was one of the first few chapters I actually wrote when I first came up with the idea for the story. This was really supposed to be a bonus chapter of some sort, but now it's got a bit of a building up role for the story. I hope you all liked this chapter :) I've got an exam coming up tomorrow morning that's why I was disconnected from the rest of the world yesterday and only got to upload this today. Anyway thank you again to all those who keep on supporting me and this fic, I get to keep writing because of you :) See you next week!


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